By Julie Morgan

Published at 11:08, Thursday, 18 October 2012

AFTER nearly 10 months, Wasdale Head has finally switched on to mains electricity.

mains electric at last: Georgina Wrathall, of the Wasdale Head Inn, with Electricity North West regional manager Martin Deehan

Eleven properties in the village have been supplied with electricity from generators since last Christmas Eve after a fault occurred on a power cable that runs through Wastwater.

The fault was repaired by placing 1.6km of bespoke cable under the lake, replacing cable which had first been installed in 1977.

The initial plan to restore mains power by laying a cable under the road that runs alongside Wastwater was found to be not technically possible due to the ground conditions.

Engineers finally restored mains electricity on Tuesday morning.

Georgina Wrathall, manager at the Wasdale Head Inn, said: “We’re over the moon that mains electricity has been restored and the generators have been turned off. Disruption has been kept to a minimum throughout the project so we have been able to stay fully open throughout, as have the rest of the businesses in the valley.

“We are delighted that a permanent solution is now in place.”

Martin Deehan, area manager for Electricity North West, said: “I’m delighted that we have successfully restored mains power to this beautiful area.

“This has been a long-term project with all sorts of challenges – there is no easy way to get mains power to such a unique and remote part of the UK.

“Although we restored power to residents the same day as the fault by providing generators, it’s taken a lot of planning and background work with local residents and businesses, as well as the council, National Trust and Natural England to find a permanent solution.

“I’d like to thank the residents and businesses for their patience, and our engineers for their efforts.”

For more information on the project, go to www.enwl.co.uk/wasdale.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk