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.

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

Consultation timeline

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).

National Grid held another non-statutory consultation from June to August 2023. You can view the CCC consultation response (September 2023).

National Grid have now started their statutory consultation. This will run for ten weeks until 18 June 2024. It will include face to face events, online webinars, a community newsletter and communication in the media. You can find more information about this and how to comment via www.nationalgrid.com/norwich-to-tilbury

We will again be a consultee and will prepare a response to the statutory consultation.

Further queries

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