land rights for IDNOs

Land rights for Independent Distribution Network Operators (IDNO)

We don’t always adopt new electricity networks installed by Independent Connection Providers (ICP). Sometimes these networks are adopted by IDNOs and they are responsible for acquiring the land rights they need to access, repair and maintain their equipment within a development site. This usually applies to underground cables that will be adopted by an IDNO.

We do need land rights when an IDNO adopts a substation installed on a development site by an ICP, unless the substation is located immediately next to the public highway.

On these occasions the IDNO will require the site owner to transfer land to them for the substation site (together with a right of access and also an easement for underground cables). We require land rights for equipment installed within a development site that will not be adopted by the IDNO.  We will also require a right of access from the development boundary to the high voltage switchgear located within the IDNO's substation. 

The land rights we require will usually take the form of an easement for underground cables installed between the boundary of the development site and the IDNO substation. 

The land rights we require may be incorporated into the transfer document completed between the solicitor’s acting on behalf of the owner of the development site and the IDNO.

  1. ICP/IDNO designer will send the legal drawing to our designer together with the design approval pack. (The legal drawing must be Land Registry compliant and must coordinate with the legal document).
  2. Our designer will liaise with the estates & wayleaves team and will confirm approval of the legal plan to ICP/IDNO designer.
  3. In the meantime, the IDNO’s solicitor may forward a new template legal document to the landowner (usually the developer) for approval. Our land rights are reserved with the transfer or lease (copies of the documents are available on request).
  4. If no changes are made to the wording of the document that will affect our land rights, then the solicitors’ acting on behalf of the IDNO and development site owner will complete the transaction without our involvement.
  5. Should the development site owner insist on major changes to the document that affect our land rights, the IDNO will inform our estates and wayleaves team directly via wayleaveenquiries@enwl.co.uk or call 0845 070 2518.
    This will allow us to instruct our solicitors to negotiate the wording of the transfer with the solicitors acting on behalf of the site owner.
  6. On legal completion of the transfer, the IDNO’s solicitor will send an electronic copy of the completed legal document to our estates and wayleaves team directly via wayleaveenquiries@enwl.co.uk or call 0845 070 2518.

IDNO guidance notes

For more information read through our IDNO guidance notes

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IDNO land rights process flow

To better understand our responsibilities and yours, what happens and when, take a look at our process flow chart for IDNOs.

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IDNO case study

Read through our case study of a project we worked on with an IDNO.

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