Land rights and consents

When do we need land rights?

We need land rights to install and thereafter use, maintain and renew our equipment on privately owned land. All land rights must be in place before we install and energise a connection to our network.

When are land rights not needed?

When an Independent Connection Provider (ICP) installs equipment in a public highway or in land laid out to form part of a public highway.

What other consents are needed?

We are sometimes required to obtain other permissions in order to comply with legislation relating to sites of special environmental or historical interest and/or where we are building new overhead lines or substations.  For example we may need consents from local planning authorities such as Natural England, Historic England and/or the Environment Agency.  We may also need consent from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy or the Planning Inspectorate for building new or modifying existing overhead lines.

All permission and statutory consents must be in place before we will install and energise a new connection to our network.

For more detailed information please see our guidance note for legal consents for landowners and customers’ and our process flow-chart for statutory connection schemes.

Updates

Our Land Rights and Consents team are able to provide updates on a regular basis on schemes that are currently being processed. Provide details of the schemes (including the Energy Solutions reference number) you require an update for, and email to wayleaveenquiries@enwl.co.uk. We will request updates from the relevant part of the team and provide them to you as quickly as possible after receipt of the request.