Four months of disruption expected as cable laying gets under way
Nicholas Thomas Local Democracy Reporter
Works to lay new electrical cables around the edge of Newport are expected to cause up to four months of disruption.
The city council’s planning committee has unanimously approved the laying of 1.5 kilometres of underground cables at the Celtic Technology Centre, near Duffryn.
At a meeting on Wednesday (December 6), planning officer Grant Hawkins told the committee the cables would serve a data centre following an “increase in demand for power”.
A nearby substation will soon “reach capacity,” he added.
The applicant, Vantage Data Centres, will carry out the works along the carriageway of Dyffryn Lane and Celtic Way in 30-metre sections, laying the cable in a trench, which will then be backfilled before workers move onto the next section.
The planning committee was reminded the site was close to a network of fertile fields and historic watercourses, known locally as reens belonging to the protected Gwent Levels area, but council documents show planning officers were “generally satisfied” with the applicant’s details of pollution prevention
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What about the megawatts of thermal energy going to waste from data-centres. The Welsh renewable energy and heat strategies mandate planners to require applicants to consider use of the waste heat. This major project to lay 15km of cable should have had full Environmental Impact Assessment, which requires energy efficiency and avoidance of waste. Was Newport planning defective (as well as ignorant)?