The Upper Coquet valley in Northumberland, home to just 48 residents, has been without mains electricity for over a century. Sam Wood, who has lived in the valley for 20 years, has been campaigning for a decade to bring mains power to the off-grid community she describes as “on the edge of society” which suffers from appalling roads, no street lights, no fibre broadband, no mobile phone signal, no gas, no mains water, no mains sewerage, and no mains electricity. The properties in the valley are owned by the MoD, which is jointly funding the project with the Home Office. A compromise was agreed, which will see 7.5 miles (12km) carried by poles and three miles (4.7km) run underground.
The noisy diesel generators that power their homes cost up to £10,000 a year to run, and can break down at any moment, including on Christmas Day. “We never know when it might happen; we can go months with no problems then the generator can stop working three times in a week,” says Sam. For now, the community relies on Claude Schiavetta, who travels from his home in Dunkeld in Scotland. There are very few people in the country who are able to repair and service them, so when Sam connects to mains electricity, Claude will lose one of his contract jobs.
The valley missed out on the electrification programmes of the 20th Century because the farms were too remote, and for many years the community was told that a connection would be too expensive. But when the Home Office decided it needed to supply mains electricity to three emergency telecommunication masts in the valley, an opportunity arose to connect many of the properties too. Northern Powergrid is leading the project which will take several months to complete. Sheep farmer Megan Byatt’s home is too remote to get a reliable connection, but she is hoping to get some renewables.
Upper Coquetdale is a community of fewer than 50 people, some living many miles apart, but the valley Christmas party is well attended and all the talk this year is of the new cable. “There’s still that little doubt,” Shona says, “but it’s so nice to see the poles as you drive up the valley and you think to yourself, yes, this could actually happen.” Sam agrees: “This is a community where we look out for each other. If someone’s in trouble, we all help, and that’s happened many times. Mains electricity won’t change that, the valley will always be a very special place.
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