Project News North Wales Connection - connecting new low carbon energy in North Wales Autumn 2018 Connection will unlock investment in Inside: Wylfa Newydd and the benefits it brings • Large map of our Hundreds of decisions and changes final proposal made in response to feedback • How we have acted on your feedback Register with the Planning Inspectorate • The planning process to take part in the next steps and how to get involved Final plans for Wylfa Newydd connection submitted to Planning Inspectorate We have submitted our application to While we have made many changes in the Planning Inspectorate for a second Among the key decisions based on response to what people have told us, What happens now? connection for Wylfa Newydd nuclear what people told us, we have: we also recognise that we have not been power station. able to do everything we have been Selected a route corridor in the It’s now up to the Planning asked. The most significant being to centre of Anglesey in preference Inspectorate to examine our Our proposals are for a new, second line put the new connection subsea or to route corridor options nearer the proposals and review the of pylons close to the existing line and a underground, which the Isle of Anglesey coast. This option was the most decisions we have made. tunnel at the Menai Strait. and Gwynedd Councils have also popular in feedback. This is an important step in unlocking requested during the project. During this process, public hearings Reviewed where the connection will be held in the local area. You have many millions of pounds of local We have looked carefully at both these could be routed on the approach the opportunity to take part and give investment and around 9,000 options, but they raise both technical and to the Menai Strait, avoiding areas your feedback directly to the Planning construction jobs the power station will environmental challenges. Both options such as Menai Bridge, Llanfairpwll Inspectorate to consider alongside create. The connection will also transport are also much more expensive than and Y Felinheli. our application documents. low carbon power to the homes and overhead lines so would not meet the businesses that use it. Identified a route mostly in parallel to obligations placed on us to keep costs If you want to get involved, you will Our proposals bring together eight years of the existing line, keeping any effects low for bill payers. need to register to take part. This of the two lines to one area and process is managed by the Planning detailed work. This includes consultation We think our proposals offer the best away from larger towns and villages. Inspectorate and all future comments with communities and stakeholders, and balance of all the factors we must Of those who gave a view, this was need to be submitted to them, not thousands of assessments to consider the consider – such as the landscape, local the preferred approach. National Grid. effects of the project. economy, environment, technical and Hundreds of decisions and changes have Chosen a tunnel to put the policy requirements – and mean there are There is more information on the been made based on what people have connection under the Menai Strait, no long-term effects for most areas of planning process and how you can told us and we’ve worked hard to keep changing from an original overhead Anglesey and north Gwynedd. get involved on the back page. the effects of our proposals on Anglesey line proposal, to protect the Anglesey and Gwynedd as low as we can. Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and iconic landscape of the At the same time, we have met the Menai Strait. We heard this strongly requirements placed on us, which include expressed by stakeholders and providing value for money for households members of the public. and other electricity consumers. Worked with landowners to make We would like to thank everyone who many small refinements to pylon has provided feedback, including the locations and construction access landowners, stakeholders and residents tracks to reduce effects on land and who have worked with us to develop agricultural activity. our proposals. 1 Connecting Wylfa Newydd – developing the proposals The project has developed over many years and been influenced by what people have told us. In addition to your feedback, we have completed thousands of assessments and All of this work has shaped our proposals and we are confident we have reduced surveys. We have considered issues like landscape, the local economy and land the effects on the local area, while meeting the national policy requirements that use. We have also looked in detail at points like ecology, going as far as DNA we have to comply with. testing for specific species that are important for us to understand and protect. 2010 2012 2013-2015 EARLY 2015 We started looking at ways we could Our first public consultation on We reviewed your feedback, and We chose a preferred route corridor connect Wylfa Newydd, assessing connection options and route re-evaluated connection technologies through the middle of Anglesey, options for direct current or corridors. We explained the work to look again at subsea and keeping it away from the coastal area alternating current technologies, we had done and why we thought underground options including a and associated tourism sites. We also including subsea, overhead and an overhead connection using ‘hybrid’ option suggested in feedback. announced that we would avoid underground cables. pylons was likely to be the most We continued to meet with the crossing the AONB and Menai Strait appropriate option. councils and technical specialists to with an overhead line and would get their input. instead put the connection underground to protect this nationally important landscape. AUTUMN-WINTER 2015 EARLY 2016 AUTUMN-WINTER 2016 2017 We developed a number of options We reviewed your feedback on route We held our formal third public We reviewed our work again based on where the new connection could be options and carried out further consultation and asked for feedback on what you had told us. We worked with routed and held a second consultation assessments including landscape, our proposed connection design, landowners to refine our proposals and to hear your views. ecology, tourism, communities and including sites for equipment, access tracks carried out consultation in specific areas technology. This helped us to develop a and construction areas. We continued about construction traffic routes proposed route alignment – where to talk in detail to landowners directly resulting from small changes and pylons could be placed. We developed affected by our proposals to understand refinements suggested in feedback. more detailed plans about how we their concerns and opinions. We Further meetings were held with the could cross the Menai Strait and proposed a tunnel under the Menai Strait councils and stakeholders to get their carried out geological surveys. and explained the infrastructure needed. ongoing comments. EARLY 2018 SUMMER 2018 AUTUMN 2018 FIND OUT MORE We continued to review our work Horizon submitted its application After eight years of work, we We have published a range of and completed surveys to for Wylfa Newydd to the Planning submitted our application for documents and reports, which understand more about wildlife and Inspectorate giving us information development consent. If we’re geology. We revised our transport to help finalise our application. granted consent, construction would explain our work and the plans in north Gwynedd and carried begin in the early 2020s. decisions we made in detail. out further consultation on See the back page for details. construction traffic routes. 2012 route corridor 2015 route options 2016 route alignment options within orange corridor All maps reproduced from Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024241 (2012). © Crown copyright and database rights 2015 Ordnance Survey 0100031673. © Crown copyright Ordnance Survey. National Grid Electricity - 100024241. 2 What you’ve told us and what we’ve done To develop our proposals, we talked with thousands of residents, Tourism Property community councils and local groups. We also had hundreds Tourism is a crucial Your proposals of meetings with the Isle of part of the local will affect people Anglesey and Gwynedd Councils, and technical stakeholders to seek economy and pylons and property their expert opinions. could affect this Members of the public sent in over 5,000 pieces of feedback and told us many things about Anglesey and Gwynedd, all of which has been considered. We consulted tourism bodies and businesses In selecting a route, we kept away from larger to get their comments. We also considered towns and villages. Where the new line is close While we have not been able to do areas important for tourism, such as the coast, to villages, we kept to the opposite side of everything people and the councils have and kept away from them wherever possible. the existing line, where possible, so that it’s asked, all of the issues raised have been Our assessments suggest any effects from further away from communities. We met with carefully taken into account. A number of the new pylon line will be in the areas closest residents and looked carefully at the position to it and that the majority of tourism