Property
Property and EMFs
Numbers of homes near power lines
Information on numbers of homes near National Grid overhead lines
(275 kV and 400 kV) is available from a number of sources. National
Grid has performed analyses for all England and Wales homes based
on postcodes and augmented by data on individual addresses and from
aerial photography for the closer properties. The UKCCS
has published data on its subjects and estimates have appeared as
part of other epidemiological studies. Fortunately all the answers
seem fairly similar whether based on postcodes, addresses, or children,
and as the number presumably increases over time, approximate answers
are all that can be expected anyway. The best estimates available
are given in the graph.
Numbers of homes near National Grid overhead lines in England and
Wales.
Numbers for some of the key distances are given in this table:
Distance from centreline |
Number of homes |
% of total homes in England and
Wales |
Building oversailed by conductors |
1,700 |
0.007 |
50 m |
17,000 |
0.07 |
100 m |
46,000 |
0.2 |
200 m |
139,000 |
0.63 |
500 m |
600,000 |
2.7 |
No comparably reliable statistics exist on numbers of homes near
electricity lines at lower voltages. Two different pieces of work
have estimated that there is roughly three times the housing density
near 132 kV lines as near 275 kV and 400 kV lines. There are roughly
two times the length of these lines, giving, on not terribly reliable
data, six times as many homes near 132 kV lines as near National
Grid lines. Little if anything is known about homes near even lower-voltage
lines (eg 33 kV, 11 kV).
Values of homes
There is some evidence that homes near lines may be slightly less
valuable than the average for the country as a whole. In summer
2003, according to the property website 
Hometrack,
the average value of homes in a random sample of postcodes within
50 m of National Grid lines was £115k. On this basis, the
value of residential property within 50 m of National Grid lines
would be £2bn.
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