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The Wire Monday 2 November |
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The Wire · Monday 2 November Good morning. Here is today's Energy & Infrastructure news. 👇 | Ten items overnight, every one dated, opened at the primary source and checked before it went in, with our read on each. Three minutes with your coffee and you are up to speed. | |
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| | Diesel 199.2p ↓ 0.1p | Brent $118 ↑ $3 | Power £223 ↑ £0 | CPIH 3.6% ↑ 0.3 | Bank Rate 3.75% – | GBP/USD $1.34 ↑ $0.01 |
The Pulse · figures to 1 Nov · the full board → |
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01 |
 Energy & Grid · Department for Energy Security and Net Zero · 30 October 2026
Government approves 2GW Sea Link power cable between Suffolk and Kent
The government has approved Sea Link, a 2GW undersea electricity cable linking Suffolk and Kent, developed by National Grid and running mostly offshore. The approval is the 39th nationally significant clean energy project confirmed since July 2024, and includes over £1m each for community funds in Kent and Suffolk.
| | Our read Another large transmission planning decision lands days after the networks' own growth plan asked for faster delivery, so the test shifts from policy intent to National Grid actually building to time and budget. |
Read the source → |
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02 |
Energy & Grid · SSEN Transmission · 30 October 2026
SSEN starts building major new electricity substation near Peterhead
SSEN Transmission has handed over platforms for new 400kV and 132kV substations and an HVDC converter station at Netherton Hub near Peterhead, starting the main construction phase. The hub, part of a £29bn investment programme for northern Scotland, has already put £31.1m through Aberdeenshire suppliers and supports about 230 local jobs.
| | Our read A hub built to serve two separate subsea links at once is the clearest sign yet that SSEN is building shared infrastructure ahead of individual projects, not catching up with them afterwards. |
Read the source → |
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03 |
Energy & Grid · Construction Enquirer · 30 October 2026
Balfour Beatty, M Group join body shaping £181bn grid investment
Balfour Beatty, M Group and United Infrastructure have become the first members of a new Electricity Network Infrastructure Services Group inside BEAMA, set up to feed contractors' delivery experience into government and Ofgem policy. It follows the Electricity Networks Sector Growth Plan, which sets out £181bn of network investment by 2035 and more than 210,000 jobs.
| | Our read Contractors are angling for influence over policy before contracts are even out to tender. That only makes sense if they think the £181bn pipeline will move faster than supply chains and skills planning can follow, contract by contract. |
Read the source → |
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04 |
 Housing · The Crown Estate · 30 October 2026
Crown Estate wins planning for 75 low-carbon homes in Hertfordshire
Dacorum Borough Council has granted planning permission for a 75-home neighbourhood at Westwick Row in Leverstock Green, brought forward by TOWN and The Crown Estate. The scheme combines a 31-home cohousing community with rental homes, 30% of them affordable, and targets all-electric, timber-framed construction with embodied carbon below 300 kgCO2 per square metre and operational energy use of 35 kWh per square metre a year.
| | Our read The scheme's size matters less than what it signals. Cohousing and a fixed carbon budget look set to become the design brief for larger Crown Estate sites too. |
Read the source → |
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05 |
 Water · Environment Agency and Ofwat · 29 October 2026
Regulators' first joint report rates ten water firms good or on track
Released by Environment Agency and Ofwat |
Water |
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The Environment Agency, Ofwat, Natural Resources Wales and the Drinking Water Inspectorate have published their first joint report on water company performance. It found drinking water quality strong, with 99.97% of tests passed, but pollution incidents rose to 2,991 in 2025 and the Environment Agency's environmental star rating fell to 16 out of 36. Ofwat rates ten companies good or on track, seven off track and eight improving.
| | Our read Four regulators publishing one scorecard removes the excuse of checking several reports to find the one that flatters a given company, and it puts the seven off-track firms on a public record they cannot quietly let lapse. |
Read the source → |
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06 |
Energy & Grid · Civil Engineering Contractors Association · 28 October 2026
Contractors say £20.4bn Budget pledge needs delivery dates, not totals
The Civil Engineering Contractors Association has welcomed the Budget's £20.4bn of extra capital for the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank. But it says the promised updated Infrastructure Pipeline, due before the end of 2026, is only useful if it gives procurement dates, routes to market and funding status for each project. It also welcomed an expected 3% apprentice target on large government projects.
| | Our read A trade body asking for dates rather than totals is a direct response to years of headline figures that never turned into tender notices, and it is a fair marker to hold the pipeline against when it is published. |
Read the source → |
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07 |
 Rail · Network Rail · 30 October 2026
Network Rail funds new lifts and footbridges at 5 stations near you
Network Rail is spending more than £24 million on step-free access at five stations in the west of England: Weston-super-Mare, Lostwithiel, Castle Cary, Cheltenham and Torquay. Weston-super-Mare gets two new lifts on its Grade II-listed footbridge, first opened in 1884, due in autumn 2027. Lostwithiel gets the town's first permanent railway footbridge since the 1960s, replacing a temporary bridge installed in 2024 and opening by summer 2027, while Castle Cary gets a new accessible footbridge and lifts, with work expected to begin only after next June's Glastonbury Festival.
Cheltenham gets a new lift for the northbound platform and an accessible ramp for the southbound platform, due in spring 2028. Torquay gets a 13-metre ramp between platforms one and two, plus a new accessible toilet and waiting room, under the government's Access for All programme, due in spring 2027.
| | Our read Check your local station if you use one of these five, since completion dates run from spring 2027 to spring 2028 rather than all at once. Watch for a drop-in event at Weston-super-Mare this Wednesday 4 November, from 4.30pm to 6.30pm at the Front Room Theatre, if you want details on the footbridge lifts. Track Cheltenham: its lift isn't due until spring 2028, later than Weston-super-Mare, Lostwithiel or Torquay. |
Read the source → |
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08 |
Rail · Network Rail · 30 October 2026
West Wales railway shuts for 8 days in November, check your journey
Network Rail will close the line between Whitland and Pembroke for eight days, from 23:30 on 6 November to 05:45 on 14 November. Crews will renew about 1,800 metres of track and 500 metres of rail, and replace the points and junctions at Tenby, the kit that lets trains switch and cross between tracks, along with the bearers that support them.
They'll also lay about 900 metres of new continuously welded rail at Llanion, track without the regular joints that make older rail clatter. Expect two further weekend closures, on 1-2 and 15-16 November, to shut all lines west of Carmarthen so crews can replace the points, junctions and bearers at Whitland too.
| | Our read Check your journey at nationalrail.co.uk before travelling on any of these dates, since your usual route could be hit more than once this November. Build in extra time for the replacement buses, especially if you're travelling through the longer 6-14 November closure. |
Read the source → |
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09 |
Water · Uisce Éireann · 30 October 2026
Uisce Éireann's €8.5 million Celbridge upgrade clears the way for 900 homes near you
Uisce Éireann has completed the €8.5 million Crodaun Wastewater Network Upgrade in Celbridge, County Kildare, laying more than 2km of new pipeline between the Castletown Wastewater Pumping Station and the Crodaun area. The upgrade cuts the risk of sewer overflows in the area. Contractor Coffey Construction carried out the main works.
| | Our read Check for road closures again next year if you live nearby, since the pipe-laying is done but surface reinstatement is scheduled separately for next year. Expect advance notice from Uisce Éireann before that work starts: if you're in the Crodaun or Castletown area, that's exactly where the later roadworks will land. Coffey Construction finished the main works ahead of schedule, clearing the wastewater capacity needed for more than 900 new homes in the area. |
Read the source → |
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10 |
Rail · Network Rail · 29 October 2026
City Thameslink shuts for 7 months from May, check your route via Blackfriars
Network Rail will close City Thameslink station from 17 May to late December 2027 to replace all 10 escalators, which have been in service for more than 35 years and were damaged further by flooding in spring 2025. Thameslink trains will keep running through the station without stopping there. Use London Blackfriars instead: it's a six-minute walk from the Ludgate Hill entrance and about 11 minutes from the Holborn Viaduct end.
| | Our read Check your route now if you rely on City Thameslink: about 7.6 million passengers a year normally use this station, and this closure runs the full seven months through to December 2027. Expect extra staff on hand at Blackfriars to help with the crowds. Build the extra walk into your commute from day one, since a six-minute route feels longer in a rush-hour crowd than it does on a quiet weekend. |
Read the source → |
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Monday · on the map
442 projects changed this week South Kilburn (Housing & Development): Phased 15-year programme for 2,400 homes ongoing; single delivery partner due to launch June 2025 for remaining sites Middlewood Locks (Housing & Development): 1,306 homes delivered; National Housing Bank funding for the 909-home Phase 4 agreed July 2026 Southall Waterside / The Green Quarter (Housing & Development): Revised masterplan approved January 2026; more than 1,200 homes completed Liverpool Waters (Central Docks) (Housing & Development): £71m infrastructure works under way after groundbreaking marked October 2025
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