HiDef to Survey Morecambe Bay for National Grid

HiDef Aerial Surveying Limited (HiDef) will carry out aerial surveys for one of National Grid’s latest projects. 

National Grid will provide a connection to the electricity transmission network for the proposed new 3.4GW nuclear power station, Moorside, in West Cumbria and export energy produced by a number of offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea.

Following an extensive consultation exercise, National Grid decided to take forward a connection south from Moorside, across the Barrow Peninsula and through a tunnel under Morecambe Bay, which is planned to come up near Heysham in Lancashire to connect into the existing network.

HiDef has been commissioned to provide a series of ultra-high resolution digital video aerial surveys across Morecambe Bay to ensure that the forthcoming environmental impact assessment (EIA) has the best possible data with which to consider the potential effects of the construction and operation of the tunnel under Morecambe Bay on the area.

HiDef’s Environment and Statistics Manager, Andy Webb, said: “Morecambe Bay is one of the UK’s most diverse intertidal wetland areas, being home to a number of internationally important breeding and overwintering bird populations.  While the actual effects of the construction and operation of the Morecambe Bay tunnel are likely to be small in magnitude and duration, it is of course only right that the assessment uses the best possible data and that is where we come in.”

SLR Consulting’s Steve Coates, who is managing the survey programme on behalf of National Grid, said: “The Morecambe Bay tunnel is a further step in the UK’s drive to keep the lights on, by providing effective connections from where the power is generated to where it is needed. 

“It is only through undertaking environmental assessment based on reliable data that we can ensure sustainable development and so HiDef were always our natural choice for the collection of digital aerial data.”