CONCERN over power cuts led a Cheshire MP to discover how engineers repair damaged overhead lines.
Tatton MP Esther McVey was given a behind the scenes tour of all the work being done by Electricity North West to ensure homes across the area have a constant energy supply.
She was invited to the Chelford operational site, where essential maintenance work was being carried out, following a meeting she called for with the Secretary of State for Energy.
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A follow up meeting with senior managers of Electricity North West was also arranged after Tatton residents raised their concerns over outages in their power supply.
Ms McVey said: “Constituents were rightly concerned about the power outages and wanted me to get answers and solutions which I set about doing, culminating in this site visit.
“Electricity outages had been happening across the country, more so in rural areas, due to issues with tree branches colliding with overhead lines, and also problems with poles that needed upgrading.
“The problem was largely a result of maintenance work not done during the lockdown period as teams couldn’t work together and permission to access private land also wasn’t given - so trees became over grown and general maintenance of poles and lines couldn’t be done.”
After watching maintenance work being carried out, the MP feels more confident that there will be fewer power cuts in the future.
“I’m pleased that this maintenance and upgrade work has now been prioritised and a £2 billion investment programme has been committed to,” she said.
“In Chelford I saw some of this work, the tree cutting, the new poles being installed and lines being restrung, which I’m assured, will minimise future disruption in the area.”
Electricity North West manages and operates the underground and overhead cables, along with various other electrical assets to keep power flowing to large parts of the north west region, including Handforth, Chelford, Alderley and Nether Alderley in Tatton.
Scottish Power Energy Networks manages the rest of the constituency, west of Chelford.
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