Swaffham Prior Heat Network news

We are carrying out a borehole drilling programme in Swaffham Prior between October 2021 and February 2022. During this period, we are diverting regular public access to Swaffham Prior Footpath 6. Please read our information sheet below for further details and the diversion route.

This is advance notice of works taking place on Tothill Road and Green Head Road, Swaffham Prior. Works will commence at the end of both cul-de-sacs and will also include a short closure of the footpath between the two roads between 4 and 8 October 2021. Our work site will then progress up Tothill Road towards the intersection with Green Head Road.

Please ensure you have moved your vehicle(s) by 8am on the works commencement date. 

Driveway access will be restricted during the period of works. However, we will provide access with road plates in an emergency and outside of working hours. Please let us know if you have any special access requirements.

• Planned date of works - Thursday 30 September 2021 for approximately one month
• Location - Tothill Road commencing at the end of the cul-de-sac and Green Head Road commencing at the end of the cul-de-sac
• Pedestrian route changes - pedestrians should use the opposite side of the road to the work areas
• Footpath closure - the footpath between Tothill Road and Green Head Road will close between Monday 4 and Friday 8 October
• Parking changes - there will be no street parking along the side of the road where we are working. We advise residents and visitors to park further along Tothill Road or on Green Head Road.
• Traffic management - traffic flow should not be affected as there will be no lane closure

Should you have any queries regarding the Heat Network, please call 0345 045 5210 and press option two. 

This is advance notice of the next lane closure on High Street, Swaffham Prior. Works will commence in the eastern lane before moving across to the western lane. We will place cones on the footpath showing the extent of the closed works area. 

Please ensure you have moved your vehicle(s) by 8am on the works commencement date. We will notify of any deviations from this date on signage around the work site.

Please let us know if you have any special access requirements, including the need for vehicles to access your driveway.

• Planned date of works - Monday 6 September 2021 for approximately two weeks
• Location - east side of High Street, Swaffham Prior outside numbers 27 to 37
• Pedestrian route changes - pedestrians should use the opposite side of the road to the work areas
• Parking changes - there will be no street parking within the work areas
• Traffic management - we will reduce High Street to one-lane in the areas we are working, controlled by priority traffic control and two-way traffic lights. Once we have completed the eastern lane, our work site switches to the western lane before advancing further.

Should you have any queries regarding the Heat Network, please call 0345 045 5210 and press option two. 

The village meeting in March was held to update all Swaffham Prior residents on the final versions of the tariff, legal contacts, and sign-up process to be launched in the next few weeks.

We have published the documents from this meeting further down the page.

Our village heat network is happening!

The energy centre construction for our heat network will be ready to start this May. Read this letter, to find out what it means for you.

Retro-fit ready

You don’t need to replace your radiators or upgrade your insulation to join the heat network. It has been designed to work for all 300 homes in Swaffham Prior, including the listed ones.

If you sign-up, a heat interface unit will be installed in your home to receive heat from the energy centre and replace your current boiler. It operates at temperatures of 70 – 75c, the same as a boiler, so it can plug straight into your central heating system. Using this high temperature system is hassle free, as you do not have to make additional changes to your home.

Now is the moment

We want to reduce pollution, have affordable heating, protect our house prices, and not be out of pocket when oil and gas boilers are phased out across the UK.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for our village to get rid of the oil tank, the boiler, and make the change to renewable, for free, the connection costs have been waived. The heating tariff, to be released in March, is capped to oil prices, so you shouldn’t have to pay any more than you do today.

Funding, planning and permissions, sorted! Green Homes Grant available!

This project has been 3 years in the making, it was brought forward by a group of residents in the village and has been supported by many villagers over the last couple of years. These residents got Cambridgeshire County Council involved to unlock grant funding and make the idea reality. We have got funding, planning and all legal permissions to make this happen. We have even won additional funding to support extra upgrades to the poorest quality homes in the village through the Green Homes Grant, if you live in a home with EPC of D, E, F, or G, or do not have a ‘wet’ radiator system get in touch!

UK Gov reviewed project

The heat network project has been supported by central government through policy, advice and funding. Making low-carbon, renewable heating available to all households is a UK priority. Our project team has worked with BEIS (Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy), meeting on a monthly basis for two years. The business case and technical design of the heat network have been tested by investment company, Triple Point and engineering consultants, Aecom on the behalf of UK Gov.

When is it happening?

Spades are due to hit ground in May 2021. Work will start with the energy centre in the old barn on Heath Road, before the network construction is due to start in the village. The winter of 2021 can be your last on oil, connections of homes are due to start in early Spring 2022. There will be more details on the construction plan available for all to see soon.

Employment opportunities released

An advert for contractors has recently been shared through local Cambridgeshire construction circles. We would like to involve as many local contractors as possible in developing this project, if you know anyone in civil, electrical, mechanical engineering, fencing or landscaping who may be interested in applying, please email jack.park@bouygues-es.co.uk or Jason.merchant@bouygues-es.co.uk

At the end of 2020, the Heating Swaffham Prior project engineers made a very exciting change to the project design. Originally, the back-up boiler in the proposed village energy centre was planned to run off gas, in response to community feedback, this has been replace with an electrode boiler.

The electrode boiler will provide village-wide, back-up heating during the coldest winter days, or when the ground source and air source heat pumps undergo maintenance.

This means that the project can now rely 100% on renewable energy, a green electricity tariff or electricity from local solar PV will be used to run the boiler. The electrode boiler will also improve the overall commercial and energy efficiency of the project, as the system will be able to optimise energy production between the air source, electrode boiler and ground source during winter.

Last week, the Environmental and Sustainability Committee, Cambridgeshire County Council unanimously approved funding to deliver the Heating Swaffham Prior project. Confirming delivery of the heat network.

Our next major project milestone is applying for RHI (Renewable Heat Incentive), which is due in early February. Following this we will finally be able to fix the tariff and standing charges, offer packs will then be sent to households that have expressed an interest in joining the network.

There will also be an additional opportunity launched for households, still sitting on the fence, to join the network.

On Wednesday 25 November, planning consent was granted for the heat network by Cambridgeshire County Council planning department.

We are pleased to share this news with the 160+ households that have expressed an interest in joining the heat network. Planning consent secures our progress to the next stages involved in delivering our high temperature, low carbon, village heat network.

The heat network will enable households in the village to disconnect oil boilers, oil tanks and use existing central heating systems with the renewable heating supplied.