The banner headline on the Northwich Chronicle of 6. June, again quoting the concerns of Acton Bridge Parish Council about the threats of compulsory purchase. Such powers could be enforced under the Pipelines Act to go through agricultural land where agreement could not be reached with the owners. The Northwich Guardian had its own front page article on 2. May, featuring Acton Bridge residents concerned that the pipeline route (as clearly shown on NPL's own map) would come right through their garden. Click to read more media reports.

There has been widespread concern within Acton Bridge that the developers might use powers of Compulsory Purchase under the Pipelines Act to obtain wayleaves where residents refused to agree to the sale of their land. Mr Simon Towers of NPL initially denied this in an article in the Northwich Guardian, but has since conceded that NPL, as a small company, was only fronting the project and would be backed by a major 'gas shipper' such as Transco or E-on, though he was not able to name the partners they are considering. He said such a body would have its own powers of Compulsory Purchase, which contradicts the assurances previously given that NPL itself 'were not looking at private compulsory purchase orders'.

The picture at right shows an extract from NPL's original map with the 100m wide pipeline corridor (in NPL's blue dashes) covering the entire width of one resident's house and garden, which we have outlined in red for clarity. The small wood and ponds to the west are privately owned by another resident. Neither could be described as 'agricultural land'.

We have now had sight of maps with three different pipeline corridors (which are reproduced here in the cause of fair comment). The original route from Crowton (shown at left, highlighted in pink) passed along Cliff Lane, crossing Cliff Road and Wetton Lane, and then across the River Weaver near the A49. A more recent map has that route retained, but also a shows a southerly option (here in yellow) through Ash House Farm, across Pikenall, Milton Rough, and crossing Sandfield Lane twice. The coloured bands show the approximate extent of the 100 metre wide swathe of land which would be taken. You can see the railway line running diagonally, Acton Bridge Station is at the lower right, and the River Weaver at top right.

The new map at right, unfortunately on a much smaller scale, was presented at the Parish Council meeting on the evening of 30. May, and shows a more westerly route for the 'southern' option (again in yellow - MWH visited this website on the afternoon of the meeting, and obviously decided to adopt our own highlight colours from the map above!). Mr Simon Towers of NPL Estates has said that the final route through the area would have to be defined before the planning application is submitted, and anyone affected would be consulted. However, many resident who would certainly be affected by the routes shown on these maps have not been contacted, let alone consulted, by NPL or their agents.

We have some experience of dealing with energy-related developments in this part of Cheshire. Interested parties may wish to consider the robust response which Acton Bridge and its neighbouring villages have made to other attempts to compromise the peaceful amenity of this Green Belt environment. These pages are hosted on a site which enjoys over 20,000 hits per week (well over a million a year) and search-engine rankings to match, so the would-be developers have suffered massive, worldwide adverse publicity. Click on the blue campaign links below for more information.

An application by National Grid and Network Rail to build a huge electrical substation on Green Belt land in the village (and spilling over into Weaverham) was defeated. Our alternative suggestion was to site the installation at an existing facility in Frodsham, and this has now been adopted, but only after the wastage of many months of work and a six-figure sum of public money. Flaws in the developers' technical arguments were ruthlessly exposed, and their workings are now public knowledge in a way which would never have arisen had they not attacked our community :- Substation Campaign

An application to build a 12MW wind farm on Green Belt land in the neighbouring village of Aston (with four 125m turbines clearly visible and audible from Acton Bridge) has been defeated at the local planning stage, and is currently pending Appeal by the developer, Tegni Cymru Cyf. Again, this resulted in massive adverse publicity for Tegni and Vestas, their proposed turbine manufacturers, whose technical failures have now been broadcast to (and continue to attract) a worldwide audience :- Windfarm Campaign

NPL submitted a Scoping Report to Cheshire County Council in March 2007, which refers to a pipeline route a full kilometre wide. NPL's website claims that "a cornerstone of NPL’s corporate progress has been its policy of transparency and candour in business dealings". [...] "NPL propose to undertake a regular series of public exhibitions for the local community to view the plan and provide comments. In addition NPL’s website will provide up-to-date information and progress". And, "NPL is a champion of the partnership approach".

In fact, Acton Bridge Parish Council has written formally to ask for further details of the extent to which NPL's proposals might affect the village, but no acknowledgment had been received at the time of writing.