Seagreen are pleased to confirm that the Balhungie Application has been consented by Committee at Angus Council. This was an application to amend a short section of the already approved Seagreen underground onshore cable route in the vicinity of Balhungie.
The originally approved onshore cable route was, at the time of development, considered to be the best in terms of environmental, technical and economic factors. However, further dialogue with the landowner of Balhungie Farm resulted in a request to amend the approved route through the farm to further minimise potential impacts on farm operations. The newly consented alternative route will also provide a better angle to cross a high-pressure gas pipeline which crosses through the originally consented route.
Please see a map below which shows the location in orange of the of the newly consented section of the route.
Following this consent and as we move along the onshore cable route we are now in a position to begin works in the Balhungie area. Early enabling works will now commence to create an access point into nearby fields and to mark out the cable route boundary with fencing in order to create a safe work zone. In order to carry out these early enabling works we are required to close part of U510 Woodhall Road from the A930 northwards for a distance of approx. 100m. The current dates we have for these enabling works are 16 March – 6 April inclusive. The works are unlikely to take the full duration of the closure and we will endeavour to do these works as quickly as possible to minimise disruption.
Once the access point and work zone have been created, our contractors will begin work on the cable installation itself. This will involve the following activities:
· Ongoing creation of temporary access points, haul roads and access roads
· Excavation of trenches and installation of cable ducting
· Laying of cables through the installed ducts
· Reinstatement of the ground once the above activities are complete
The route at Balhungie also includes the requirement to cross a watercourse. This will be crossed using HDD (Horizontal Directional Drilling) underneath the watercourse. There will typically be approximately 8 – 10 people working in this area although a small number of ad-hoc visitors will also be on site at different times too as the works progress. The intention is for the duration of these works to take around three months.
If you have any questions or concerns about these works or the Seagreen project in general you can contact our Stakeholder Engagement Manager Pauline Allison any time on 076880 180 662 or by email at pauline.allison@sse.com. us any time on the details noted in bold below.