Local residents and walkers using footpaths around the South Downs village of Cocking now have a clearer view, thanks to a £25,500 scheme to remove nearby overhead power lines.
Cocking, a small, picturesque village in the South Downs National Park, is popular with walkers and when stakeholders in the area were asked to suggest sensitive landscapes that would benefit from power lines being taken down, its 11th century church was nominated by the local South Downs Society.
SEPD engineers have recently completed a three month project to replace overhead electricity lines from land near the church with replacement underground cables. Three spans of power lines have been taken down and four wooden poles.
Project manager Chris Sutton from SEPD said: “This is a lovely part of the South Downs with fantastic views across the countryside. The field near the church and war memorial was criss-crossed by a number of overhead power lines that dated back to the 1960s. Now we’ve taken them down, it looks a lot more in keeping with the historic church and gives a clearer view for walkers using the popular footpath that runs nearby.”
Andy Beattie, People and Places Manager for the South Downs National Park Authority, said: “It’s great to see Southern Electric Power Distribution taking advantage of this funding to improve the spectacular landscapes of the South Downs National Park. This is one of three schemes scheduled for the National Park over the next two years and we hope that we’ll be able to announce two more in the very near future.”
Steve Ankers, Policy Officer of the South Downs Society, said today: "As the 'Friends' group for this national park, we are of course delighted to see programmes like this one which bring such obvious benefits to the park landscape. We put forward the Cocking scheme and are delighted to see it come to fruition. It has been an excellent day!"
The project was funded by a special allowance, granted to SEPD by industry regulator Ofgem, to invest in projects to underground power lines in AONBs and National Parks in central southern England.
Replacement underground electricity cables were carefully buried in the surrounding fields and once they were powered up, engineers were able to take down the overhead lines.