A Wellington refurb is underway

A £650,000 project to refurbish a 65-year-old part of the network in Somerset is underway.

As part of a two-year asset replacement programme, the work will include 15km of refurbishment in total for the 1,750 customers in Ashbrittle and Appley near Wellington.

Operator Nick Carney working on the project to replace the poles and conductors.

Taunton Survey Specialist James How who is overseeing the project explained: “It’s a huge project as it’s replacing over 300 high and low voltage poles and 15km of aluminium conductor to copper. The reason for this is the aluminium conductor corrodes and oxidise easily, leaving it weak and prone to fault.

“We have been liaising with landowners throughout the work as there were difficulties due to the location, such as pheasants in the area, plus very steep ground that requires special techniques to allow pole erection including building tracks.

“The main benefit of the work is that it will further secure the reliability of the network in the area.”

The work is set to be ongoing until September 2019.