Proposed removal of pylons cancelled

The proposed project to remove a 7km section of overhead electricity line, and 16 pylons, between Postlip Mill near Winchcombe and Dowdeswell Wood, east of Cheltenham, and replace it with underground cables has now been cancelled.

Ofgem ran a 28-day consultation with the consultation now concluded, the regulator has published its final decision which confirms it will not be funding the Cotswolds VIP project.

In its publication, Ofgem has restated the need to protect consumers from unnecessary costs and that the project doesn’t represent the best value for bill payers at a time where many are struggling with the rising cost of living.

Further details of the decision are available on Ofgem’s website here:

Extract from Ofgem report

“While we acknowledge the landscape benefits that visual impact improvement projects can deliver, they are not essential for the current or future operation of the electricity system, or critical for energy decarbonisation. Although we have regard to economic benefits, our principal objective is to protect the interests of current and future electricity consumers. The Cotswolds VIP submission from NGET did not quantify the project’s economic benefits, nor did it provide sufficient justification that the funding would represent value for money to consumers by delivering those benefits. The submission did not provide evidence of the Cotswolds VIP project leading to increased tourism and did not undertake modelling or analysis of local tourism demand, visitor numbers, or associated economic impacts to demonstrate that these benefits were likely to materialise”.