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NIE Electricity Upgrade across Northern Ireland

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Dear Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland),

I have been advised by the Department of Infrastructure that the matters arising from the request below are solely within the remit and responsibility of the Department of the Economy.

Pursuant to the FOI Act 2000, I would like to request the following information:
NIE is currently undertaking an "upgrade of low voltage cables" across Northern Ireland.
1) What is the a) purpose and b) the main drivers of this regional upgrade?
2) What are the materials that are being removed and what is their composition?
3) What will the new materials be comprised of?
4) What are the potential impacts of this upgrade to the a) network, b) supply, c)voltage and d) cost to the consumer?
5) Can you provide information on the safety of the installation of these new materials (in combination with other street furniture and/or electrical or other type of devices within buildings) to consumers in our homes and in the streets and what are the precautions that should be taken to mitigate any risks?
6) Who is the public body or bodies responsible for the new infrastructure and its potential impact on the public?

Yours faithfully,

Christine Gibson

DfE FOI, Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland)

1 Attachment

Good Afternoon Ms. Gibson,

 

Thank you for your recent request for information, please see attached
acknowledgement.

 

Kind regards

 

Shona

 

Information Management Unit
Department for the Economy
Netherleigh
Massey Avenue
Belfast, BT4 2JP

Web: www.economy-ni.gov.uk

 

 

DfE 2020-0190

Dear DfE FOI,

Thank you for your letter in response.

My request was solely related to the FOI Act 2000 legislation obligations and for all those matters that are not environmental in nature I am requesting that these are dealt with appropriately under said Act.

If any matters do fall into the realms of the EIR obliglations, I would like to know at this juncture which of the specific questions I have asked in my original communication do fall in this category and for you to provide me with a reasonable timeframe within which I could receive this information.

If the dates of return of either set of information is deemed to fall outside of the 4 weeks, please advise me now and also advise me as to the reasonable explanation for doing so.

Please note that the time-frames stipulated in both Statutes are deadlines and not to be used or abused to work towards. In this critical matter that the activities are happening now across Northern Ireland, i would ask that you treat both sets of responses with expediency and urgency. I am requesting this now in response to your determination of invoking the EIR 2004 regulations which would provide you with a longer timeframe.

I believe that this information is already available in your Department as the works are already being carried out and therefore IF you do foresee any reason why I should not receive ALL information in the next week could you please advise as to the reason for this (C-19 is not a reason not to access information when your Office, by right of remit, is holding and/or has access to information across your Department.

Looking forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Christine Gibson

DfE FOI, Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland)

Good afternoon Christine,

I am sorry there is confusion around the handling of your request and I hope that I will be able to address your queries.

Section 39 of the FOI Act exempts environmental information from disclosure and advises that it should be considered instead under EIR. The information you have requested is deemed to be environmental information as it falls within Regulation 2(1) of EIR.

In line with EIR, a response will be issued to you within 20 working days i.e. on or before 29 December.

Regards,

Kelly

Kelly Walker
Information Management Unit
Department for the Economy

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Wright, Karen Jayne, Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland)

7 Attachments

Good Morning Ms. Gibson,

 

Thank you for your recent request for information, I have attached the DfE
response.

 

Kind regards

Karen Jayne Wright
Energy Infrastructure Branch
Department for the Economy
Netherleigh
Massey Avenue
Belfast, BT4 2JP
Tel: 028 9052 9367 (ext: 29367)
[mobile number]
TextRelay: 18001 028 9052 9367
Web: www.economy-ni.gov.uk

[1]https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/sites/defa... [2]https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/sites/defa... [3]https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/sites/defa...
[4]https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/sites/defa... [5]https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/sites/defa...

[6][IMG]

 

References

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Christine Gibson

Dear Wright, Karen Jayne,

Thank you for your email.

Could you please confirm that the Department of the Economy has no responsibility for the infrastructure referred to in this request to clarify your response?

Many thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Christine Gibson

Christine Gibson

Dear Wright, Karen Jayne,

Further to my previous email, I need to share with you the same request from the 1) DfI and 2) my Council where BOTH have claimed that they have no information.

1) DfI https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...) 2) Council https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...

Could you please provide me with the information you hold in relation to this request and any signposting to the correct public body that is relevant to each question?

Many thanks in advance
Yours sincerely,

Christine Gibson

Crawford, Mark, Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland)

Dear Christine

I have recently taken over from Stephen Martin at DfE, with responsibility for Emergency Planning and Security of Supply matters.

I am keen to assist you with the query that you raised, as I am conscious there have been a few emails back and forth without resolution. As such I was wondering if you would have any objection with having a quick chat with me so I can hopefully bring this matter to a swift conclusion. I am happy to give you a call or I am available on the numbers below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Mark

Mark Crawford
Security of Supply and Consents
Department for the Economy

Tel: 028 905 29714 (ext: 29714)
[mobile number]
Web: www.economy-ni.gov.uk

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Wright, Karen Jayne, Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland)

Dear Christine Gibson

My original response still applies - as outlined in my reply the department is not responsible for overhead electricity lines and does not hold the information you require.

With regard to Point (6) in your e-mail, this is primarily the authority responsible for granting planning approval for the new infrastructure. In this instance, given the reference to "upgrade of low voltage cables", approval, if required, would most likely fall to the relevant local Council.

When approaching Council your request must specify a particular location re NIEN works.

Regards

Karen Jayne Wright
Security of Supply and Consents Branch
Electricity and Energy Consumers Division
Tel: 028 9052 9367 (ext: 29367)
[mobile number]

Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this e-mail?

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Crawford, Mark, Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland)

Dear Christine

Further to my email last week, I was wondering if you have considered my offer to have a chat about your query.

Kind regards

Mark

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We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Christine Gibson please sign in and let everyone know.