The current environment

There are different types of habitat along our preferred pipeline 
route. Some areas are agricultural land used for growing crops and 
managing livestock. In other areas, sites have been surveyed and 
found to have special or protected species present. We are taking 
these protected species and local wildlife sites into account when 
finalising the route.

It is important that we avoid these areas, where 
possible, and we have made some changes to 
the initial route after finding several protected 
species, including Great Crested Newts, bats, 
badgers, and various bird and plant species. 

Some of the preferred route passes through 
fen and peat habitats. Peaty soils in agricultural 
areas will be reinstated to their pre-disturbance 
thicknesses. Excess peat that cannot be 
reinstated will be reused in local area.

We want to understand ground conditions and 
land drainage as this will inform our approach to 
construction. We have started detailed ground 
investigations – investigating the ground by 
excavating or drilling to allow a visual inspection 
and collection of samples for testing – so that 
we can plan work with landowners to manage 
land drainage, access and soils.