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NEWS
NEWS
One-stop ‘shop’ to handle all wayleaves issues
ATIONAL Grid Transco has
established a new
department to unite the
previous gas and electricity
wayleaves departments
and the former National Grid
Planning and Environment
Group.
The Land and Development
Group — headed by manager
Hector Pearson — now deals
N
with all rights, access and
policy issues over land used for
energy transmission and
distribution, and with the
grantors who have
transmission assets on their
land.
“This rationalisation gives us
an opportunity to identify and
share best practice across the
country,” said Hector. “We
hope this will ensure that the
highest possible standards are
maintained. Merging the three
groups so that all operational
land issues fall under one
umbrella, will also offer
opportunities to improve the
quality and consistency of
service.
“For our grantors, however,
it’s business as usual, although
AS PART of the reorganisational changes, National Grid Transco has or is about to
bid farewell to a number of wayleave staff.
“Together, they represent more than 100 years of experience and service in the
world of wayleaves,” said Hector Pearson. “Some have served not only National Grid
and National Grid Transco, but also the former Central Electricity Generating Board.
“All have worked towards setting the highest of standards and have done much
to build constructive and successful relationships with our grantors. We wish them
all the very best for the future.”
We spoke to some of the leavers…
Off to a new life Down Under
David Warner
course in estate management at the Royal
Agricultural College in Cirencester in 1989
and moved to Transco after working in
private practice for four years.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my time with
National Grid, they were interesting years
and I learned a great deal,” said David.
“Ultimately, Cindy and I would like to set up
a farm stay holiday business, so discount
will be offered to GridLine readers!”
“I will miss the people…”
NATIONAL GRID Transco is also bidding farewell to administrator
Gill Evans who has worked for more than five years within the
wayleave team based firstly at Penwortham near Preston, then at
Daines at Carrington, Manchester.
“I have enjoyed working within wayleaves and have learnt a great
deal over the years,” she said. “My role is moving to the company’s
offices at Thorpe Park in Leeds, so unfortunately I will not be able to
stay on. I will miss the people and the job.”
incorporates all field wayleave
officers, wayleave wardens
and administration assistants.
They deal both with gas and
electricity wayleaves, and
cover 11 “patches” around
the country, with one wayleave
officer and one wayleave
warden in each patch, apart
from the North East where
there are two wayleave officers
because of the heavy
workload.
This team is headed by field
wayleaves manager Alan
Naylor. Wilson Holmes, Alan
Whitmore and Simo n Gronow
have been promoted to senior
field wayleaves officers.
q Land and Development
Policy is managed by
Catherine Lowe, and this team
is concerned with exploring
best practice across the
country. Former wayleave
warden Lucy Hunter (née
Williams) has joined this team.
q Consents and
Acquisitions is headed by
Paul Roberts, and his senior
specialists are Trevor Beeston,
Charles Waite and Steve
Knight-Gregson. This team
deals with the acquisition of
planning permission and
consents for new electricity
transmission lines, new gas
pipelines and valuation
issues.
q The Wayleaves and
Easements Enquiry Team is
managed by Richard Walsh,
and it offers the 0800 389
5113 helpline.
Meeting the Queen one of the highlights of a colourful career
We say farewell to…
DAVID Warner, formerly wayleaves head
(South), has also left… but he has jetted off
Down Under to carve out a new future with
his wife Cindy in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Cindy is nursing at the main hospital in
Christchurch, while David, 38, pursues
plans to buy a livestock farm and set up a
land management consultancy.
“We had visited New Zealand a couple of
times and really liked it,” he said. “When we
decided we wanted to buy a farm, we felt
New Zealand was the place to do it because
of the outdoor lifestyle there. The adventure
and challenge involved also appealed.”
David — formerly Gloucester-based as
Transco’s Western area wayleaves officer
— joined National Grid in 2000 as group
head for the South West Area. He was
brought up in Cirencester with a strong
farming background — generations before
him had farmed in Gloucestershire. After
leaving school, he joined the Royal
Engineers on a three-year short service
commission, serving in the Middle East
and Africa as well as the UK.
He completed a three-year degree
some of our wayleave officers
are leaving and others have
moved on to new roles. Our
grantors are key stakeholders
in the company and we hope
that they too will benefit from
the changes.”
The 70-strong Land and
Development Group is split into
four teams:
q Field Wayleaves
Gill Evans
WHEN red tape thwarted Percy Claridge’s
plans to follow a career in the United
States, he became a wayleave officer as a
“temporary” measure.
“I needed to find a job quickly and
when I saw the job advertised in the
Farmers Weekly and the East Anglian
Daily Times, I thought that would do
nicely until I got some money together,”
he said.
As it turned out, Percy’s “temporary”
job lasted for almost three decades —
after joining Central Electricity
Generating Board’s wayleave team
during the scorching summer of 1976,
he stayed on for over 27 years, finally
retiring during this year’s scorching
summer.
Percy’s early years were spent in
Sussex before his family moved in 1946,
immediately after the war, to what was
then British North Borneo — now
known as Sabah — where his father
worked for the country’s post-war Civil
Service.
Three years later, the family was living in
Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Percy grew
up there — his father farming at times,
either growing tobacco or rearing poultry.
When he left school, Percy worked on the
land before spending two years at
agricultural college. After graduating, he
got a job with the Ministry of Agriculture
as an agricultural adviser to African
farmers that were mainly irrigation
settlements.
“I had a lot to do with seed growing
because the African farmers used to
grow seed lettuce, beans and tomatoes
for the European market,” said Percy.
“For the next nine years I worked as
Seeds Officer for the Department of
Research and Specialist Services, within
the Ministry of Agriculture, implementing
the Seed Regulations, and helping to
introduce and operate the seed
certification scheme.”
Percy had planned to take his experience
to the USA, and he stopped off in England
on his way there to obtain the relevant visa.
Flashback… National Grid wayleave officer Percy Claridge, right, meeting the Queen at the
South of England Show, 2002
But red tape held him up — and that’s
when he spotted the wayleave officer’s job
in Essex. “Fortunately, my agricultural
experience stood me in good stead when I
got the job,” he said. “As it was such a hot
summer, I was probably one of the few
people around who could discuss with
farmers the effects of high temperatures on
wheat yields!”
Percy settled in Colne Engaine in
Essex, and until 1991, covered an
increasingly large area that eventually
included parts of Essex, Suffolk,
Cambridgeshire, Northants, Hertfordshire
and Middlesex. On the formation of
National Grid, he and his wife Joanna set
up home in the village of Bethersden,
when he became wayleave officer for
Kent Area.
After 27 years, Percy leaves the world
of wayleaves with a host of memories.
Highlights include meeting the Queen at
the South of England Show as National
Grid’s representative, and meeting
Prince Charles twice in the same
capacity.
“Not so good memories include getting
lost on a cold and wet February day in
1983 on Graveney Marshes, pre-mobile
phone and radio days. It took me until
8.30pm to find a way out!” he said.
Percy says he always enjoyed the
challenge of seeing a job to completion,
with harmony and minimal interference and
damage to grantors’ land. “I shall miss the
grantors,” he said. “It is really important for
a wayleave officer to get to know his
grantors, and, of course, to be known by
them. You need to be the face of National
Grid Transco. Grantors always want to
know who to contact if they have a query
or a problem.
“It’s always worked for me. Over the
last 21 years I have done all the
wayleaves for eight or nine major line
refurbishment schemes or other major
projects and I am sure that knowing so
many of the grantors involved, and having
a lifelong involvement in agriculture,
helped smooth the way.”
In retirement, Percy and Joanna, a
company secretary, hope to spend more
time at their holiday home in Beauchamp
in France’s Poitou-Charentes region and
they are looking forward to visiting
Canada next year for their son’s
wedding. Percy bought a tractor over 10
years ago to restore — he’s hoping that
now it will get some attention for the first
time!
Percy was a keen horseman in his
younger years in Africa and an
enthusiastic polo crosse and polo player.
Also involved with the organisational side
of equestrian activities, when still in
Rhodesia, he “invented” the timing system
now used all over the world for timing the
cross country phase of Horse Trials. As a
qualified British Show Jumping
Association judge, he is also hoping to
have more time to adjudicate at local and
major shows.
We say farewell to…
continued on Pages 4&5
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