Willington C Power Station Gas Pipeline
RWE npower has proposed the construction of a new gas-fired power station on the site of a former coal-fired station at Willington in Derbyshire. This requires a 30km gas pipeline linking the new station with the gas National Transmission System (NTS) at Yoxall in Staffordshire. The application for consent will be submitted to the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) under regulations that came into force in 2009. The new planning process is designed for large, nationally significant infrastructure projects and it shares with all major planning applications the need for a rigorous Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
PAA was commissioned to prepare the ecology, physical environment and landscape and visual assessment components of the EIA, working closely with RWE npower and consulting widely with statutory and non-statutory agencies.
The baseline surveys covered an extensive area and by necessity the project drew on a wide range of PAA’s in-house specialists: botanists, ecologists, earth and soil scientists, ornithologists, hydrologists and GIS consultants. Ecological surveys included Extended Phase 1, NVC and hedgerow assessments, and protected species including GCN, birds, bats, water vole and otter. The physical environment 
assessments examine soils, geology, hydrology, flood risk and land use. The GIS team played a key role in the collation, analysis, interpretation and presentation of the large volume of environmental data collected. A thorough understanding of pre-works conditions was essential in identifying potential environmental effects and in developing appropriate mitigation strategies.
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