Skip to main content

Electric Cables

Question for Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

UIN 1526, tabled on 24 July 2024

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a presumption in favour of offshoring energy infrastructure where agricultural land would be affected by overhead cables or undergrounding.

Answered on

1 August 2024

The energy National Policy Statements (NPS) require developers to minimise impacts on agricultural land and preferably use land in areas of poorer quality. The NPS sets out a starting presumption for overhead lines in most cases and identifies when undergrounding or subsea cables should be considered.