Power Lines, Pipes and Your Land

If a utility company has written to you about crossing your land, don’t sign anything until you understand exactly what rights you’re giving away – because most of them outlast you, your tenancy and your next sale.

Across Devon and Cornwall the letters are landing more often. New pylons and poles, water mains, gas pipes, fibre and mobile masts, plus the access tracks and compounds that come with them. The network has to grow to cope with new housing, solar, battery storage and electric everything, and a lot of that growth runs across farmland.

The live example on our patch is National Grid’s Central Devon Reinforcement Project: a new 132kV overhead pole line from Alverdiscott substation in North Devon to North Tawton, plus a second transformer at North Tawton. Central Devon currently relies on a single 132kV circuit, and the new line adds up to 272MW of capacity and a second supply route for almost 49,000 homes, farms and businesses.

Only a broad route corridor has been identified so far. National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) says it will work with landowners over the next 12 months to agree the detailed route within it, with construction expected from 2030, subject to consents. That makes now the most valuable time to get advice. Where the line runs, where poles go and what rights are taken are all decided in the next year, and they’re the hardest things to change later.

The Central Devon line at a glance

Source: NGED Central Devon Reinforcement Project. Final pole numbers, heights and spacing are still to be confirmed at detailed design.

Wayleave or easement – know which one you’re being asked for

The single most important question is what kind of right the company wants, because it decides how you’re paid and what happens to your land in thirty years’ time.

Neither is automatically better. A capital sum can be useful for a farm with debt or a succession plan to fund. But once an easement is granted, the line or pipe is part of your title for good, and any future buyer, lender or planning officer will be looking at it.

Advice usually costs you nothing

This is the bit a lot of farmers don’t realise. On most utility schemes the promoter pays the landowner’s reasonable surveyor and legal fees. It’s standard practice, because the company knows a fair agreement needs both sides properly advised.

So the question isn’t whether you can afford advice. It’s whether you can afford to sign a permanent document drafted entirely by the other side. Check the fee undertaking is in writing before work starts, and that it covers the full negotiation, not just a first look at the paperwork.

Negotiating with a backstop in the room

Be realistic: saying no rarely stops a scheme. Electricity companies can ask the Secretary of State for a necessary wayleave under the Electricity Act 1989, and can seek compulsory purchase of permanent rights. Water companies have statutory powers to lay pipes, and telecoms operators can use the Electronic Communications Code, which has its own, much less generous, basis for payment.

That doesn’t mean you have no leverage. It means your leverage is in the detail – the route across your fields, where poles and towers sit, working hours, access points, reinstatement standards and what you’re paid for each of them. Most of the value for a landowner is won in that negotiation, not in a flat refusal.

On the Central Devon line specifically, two points matter. First, NGED wants both: a wayleave to start with, then a permanent easement. The published wayleave rates are a starting point for annual payments, but the capital value of a permanent easement across your land is a separate negotiation and should reflect your holding, not a standard table. Second, Fisher German will be your point of contact. They’re acting for NGED, so they’ll explain the scheme, but they can’t advise you. You need your own surveyor for that, and the fees should be covered.

The construction phase – where farms actually get hurt

The permanent payment gets the headlines, but the real damage on a lot of Devon farms happens in the months the contractors are on site. Wet ground, heavy kit and a haul road through the middle of your best ground is a recipe for compaction you’ll be farming around for years.

Things to pin down before anyone opens the gate:

• A record of condition – photos, video, soil and drainage notes before entry, agreed with the company. Without it, every later claim is your word against theirs.
• Crop loss and disturbance – lost crops, re-seeding, extra fencing, split fields and time spent dealing with the works.
• Field drainage – where your drains run and how cut drains will be found, repaired and tested.
• Stock and biosecurity – gates, temporary fencing, water supply, and cleaning of vehicles moving between holdings.
• Access and timing – which gateways, which tracks, and when, so silage, lambing and harvest aren’t trashed.
• Reinstatement – topsoil stripped and stored separately, and a clear standard the land is put back to.

The long game – what it does to your land’s value

The hardest losses to spot are the ones that don’t show until you try to do something else with the land. A line or pipe can sterilise a building plot, push a barn conversion out of reach, or put off a buyer for the farmhouse with a pylon in the view. That loss in value, known as injurious affection, can be claimed, but only if someone identifies it and puts a number on it.

NGED’s own FAQs are clear on the Central Devon line: building under or near it will generally not be possible because of safety clearances. If any part of the corridor crosses land with hope value, a farm building site or a conversion opportunity, that needs raising now, while the route is still being drawn.

It also matters for the newer income streams. If you’re looking at biodiversity net gain, woodland creation or other natural capital agreements, an easement strip with maintenance access and tree-height restrictions can cut across those plans. Same for solar, glamping or a farm shop where the access or the field you’d use is now under a line.

Our view: any agreement should be valued against what the land could be used for, not just what it’s being used for today.

Before you sign – a quick checklist

• Is it a wayleave or an easement, and for how long?
• Has the company confirmed in writing it will pay your surveyor and solicitor?
• Do you have a plan showing the exact route, pole or tower positions and working width?
• Has a record of condition been agreed before entry?
• Are crop loss, drainage, reinstatement and disturbance covered?
• Has the impact on future development, diversification and natural capital plans been considered?
• If you’re a tenant or have a tenant, has the split of payments been agreed?