New electricity power lines (Norwich to Tilbury)

National Grid owns and manages the high voltage electricity network in England and Wales, which connects homes and businesses to the energy they need.

The network was built in the 1960s, and now needs some work to reinforce the network and connect new sources of energy.

National Grid wants to build a 400kV electricity overhead transmission line in East Anglia, running from Norwich to Tilbury (originally called the East Anglia GREEN project). It also wants to build a new substation in Tendring to connect new offshore wind projects close to the coast. Part of the proposed new transmission line is planned to go through the rural north, west and south of Chelmsford.

You can read more about the project.

The planning process

The project is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. This means the Secretary of State needs to approve it, through a Development Consent Order. We are a consultee in this process.

National Grid held a non-statutory consultation, from April to June 2022. We made comments to these proposals, along with many other organisations and members of the public.

You can view the CCC consultation response (July 2022).

Further consultation

National Grid are holding a further non-statutory consultation. This started on 27 June 2023 and closed on 21 August 2023.

You can see the proposals for Chelmsford. 

You can view and comment on the proposals. As a consultee, we will assess this latest consultation and provide a response.

If you have any queries, or wish to talk to someone about the consultation, you can call contact the National Grid consultation team.

You can find out more about the Development Consent Order process.