Residents' frustration at '1970s-style' power cuts
Northern Powergrid says its engineers have fixed a fault in Northern Lincolnshire, as some residents claim the frequent outages reminded them of 1970s-style power cuts.
People living in the Isle of Axholme have told the BBC that the outages, which had been going on since December, often lasted for hours and heavily disrupted their lives.
Gary Cawkwell, who lives in the village of Althorpe, described the situation as "ridiculous", adding that it left residents needing to "get the candles out".
A Northern Powergrid spokesperson blamed the problem on overgrown trees.
"Engineers were mobilised to investigate, repairs have taken place, and we can confirm this is now complete," they added.
In April, a foodbank in Haxey said it was "deeply frustrated" after power cuts ruined their stocks of chilled food.
People living in the area said their lives had become a nightmare and, at some points in the last month, thousands of people saw their supplies cut off on a daily basis.
Maggie Wootten, who has lived in West Butterwick for 34 years, said she had resorted to keeping camping lanterns around her house.
She added: "They've been happening regularly since Christmas and often in the middle of the night. The last two months have been the worst.
"We're paying a lot of money for something but we're not getting the service. They (Northern Powergrid) say they have fixed it but I'm just waiting for the next cut."
Some residents said they had been offered a £30 payment from Northern Powergrid for the inconvenience caused.
Christine Kennedy said she had "lost count" of how many power cuts her household had experienced and was sceptical about the cause of the problems.
She added: "We've been told birds and vegetation are to blame but that's difficult to believe. Are they really different here compared to anywhere else?"
Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Foodbank throws away supplies because of power cut
Northern Powergrid
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Harvest mice return to marsh after 50 years
The harvest mouse - Europe's smallest rodent - has returned to a city's marshlands after 50 years. The tiny mice, which weigh less than a 50p coin, have been found at Breary Marsh in Leeds for the first time since 1975. David L Preston, countryside ranger at Leeds City Council, said it was "fantastic" to see the mice back in Breary Marsh. He said: "It shows that all the work we've been doing in changing our practices has worked wonders for the natural habitat." According to the Mammal Society, the species was once widespread across the UK but has seen rapid declines in many areas due to changing farming practices, resulting in a loss of natural habitat. The team at Breary Marsh believe the mice have returned because of a change to the way staff care for the land. They have begun using traditional scything instead of mowing, and leaving areas of wildflower meadow, verges and wetlands uncut. According to the Wildlife Trust, harvest mice live in long, tussocky grassland, reed beds, hedgerows and around woodland edges. They struggle to live in thin or short grass, as the stems are too weak to support their spherical nests which they create from tightly woven grass, elevated from the ground in tall grasses. A monitoring programme has now been set up with Yorkshire Mammal Group to understand the spread of the mouse population on the site. Breary Marsh is a Local Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest, which borders Golden Acre Park in north Leeds. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. Harvest mice on the move as nest site widens Harvest mice reintroduced to wood after 45 years Harvest mice 'rediscovered' in village
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
London borough to completely ban junk food adverts amid obesity crisis
A London borough is set to ban adverts with promote "unhealthy" food in a bid to reduce levels of obesity and diabetes. Officers at Kingston Council in south-west London have drafted a report detailing the policy which will clamp down on notices of "harmful products" on all council-owned estates, assets and any advertising contracts If the scheme is approved, the council will be responsible for ensuring proposed adverts comply with the policy for all new contracts, as well as existing ones upon renewal. A joint strategic needs assessment carried out in the borough in 2023 found that instances of diabetes are on the rise, with 2,000 cases linked to obesity, the BBC reports. It further found that the top five risk factors for poor health and early deaths are tobacco, alcohol, high body mass index, poor diet and high systolic blood pressure. The report noted that the policy would "support strategic and operational plans to address the rising rates of obesity and chronic disease in the borough". Similar healthy advertising policies have been introduced by 24 local authorities across the UK, including nine London boroughs. Kingston Council's people committee will vote on whether to approve the policy on June 17.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Reeves vows to shield UK from Israel-Iran price shock
Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the government will do "everything in [its] power" to protect people in the UK from the knock-on economic effects of the conflict between Iran and Israel. She would not "take anything off the table" in response to the threat of rising energy costs, she told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme. The global oil price rose sharply on Friday following the initial attacks by Israel and Iran's subsequent response. A rise in the cost of oil pushes up petrol and diesel prices and can fuel inflation more broadly. Following Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, oil prices spiked to nearly $130 a barrel, contributing to higher prices for UK shoppers on everything from transport to food. However the cost of a barrel of oil, currently around $75, is still lower than it was in January. "There is no complacency from myself or the Treasury," Reeves told the BBC. In 2022, following the start of the Ukraine war, the Conservative government responded to higher energy prices by stepping in to help households with their bills. "We are not anywhere near that stage at the moment," the chancellor said. Household energy bills respond slowly to rising wholesale energy prices, and average bills, as set by the price cap, are due to come down in July. If the conflict continues, and in particular if there is disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway off the south coast of Iran, the price of oil and gas could rise further. However, oil market experts say there is currently less upward pressure on the price of oil than there was three years ago. How the Israel-Iran conflict could affect energy prices Reeves said the situation in the Middle East was part of the reason that she had raised spending on both defence and energy security, in her announcement last week, which outlined the government's budgets for the rest of the parliament. "A lack of investment in our own domestic energy production has left us exposed," she said. "The investment [announced in the Spending Review] in nuclear energy, in offshore wind, in onshore wind, in carbon capture and storage, is all about ensuring we are more self-sufficient as a nation," she said. Many of those investments will take several years to complete, but some of the government's planned investments could have an impact "in the shorter term" such as investment in home insulation, she added. Lord John Browne, former chief executive of the energy giant BP, said he also believed it was time to "push very hard" on energy security, and on the transition away from fossil fuels. Lord Browne, who now chairs BeyondNetZero, a fund investing in carbon transition technologies, told Laura Kuenssberg some of the government's plans were "too bullish" and would take more time than planned. Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said the implications of the latest conflict for "oil prices, equity prices... trading and inflation and therefore interest rates and the general state of the world economy" were very important. He said the UK economy needed to be "much stronger" to cope with the challenges it is now facing, adding that the government had made the wrong choices by increasing taxes on business. Plans for borrowing and spending had kept inflation higher, he said. How the Israel-Iran conflict could affect energy prices Reeves boosts NHS and housing as some budgets squeezed Crisis - which crisis? Israel-Iran another huge challenge for government Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
