Calls for SSEN to review infrastructure after major power outage cuts off thousands of properties across Lymington, Pennington, East End and East Boldre

A MAJOR power outage cut off more than 11,000 properties across Lymington and surrounding areas for nearly an hour this morning (Tuesday).

Attributed to an “underground network fault” by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) the issue prompted local councillors to call for engineers to sort out the infrastructure.

The alarm was raised shortly after 9.30am, with the affected zone also including Pennington, East End, East Boldre, and parts of Brockenhurst and Sway.

A total of 11,518 properties were affected, according to SSEN’s Powertrack site.

The company had said it aimed to restore supplies by 12.30pm, but this happened by around 10.20am.

Liberal Democrat Pennington ward district councillor Jack Davies demanded answers from SSEN, saying such cuts were happening far too often.

“This is another hammer blow for residents and businesses across our town,” he told the A&T.

“These power cuts are becoming a regular thing in Lymington and Pennington.

“SSEN need to sort the infrastructure out and I’ll be getting them down to the town council to explain how they plan to do that.”

Recently-elected Lib Dem town mayor Cllr Colm McCarthy sought to asssure the community that SSEN would be held to account over power issues affecting the area.

He said: “With local businesses already finding it difficult due to parking charges and the increased cost of parking clocks, local businesses are finding it more and more difficult to trade.

“We support our local trade and we have requested SSEN explain the recent power cuts that we see occurring more frequently within Lymington and Pennington, and what they are doing to prevent it.

“It’s not acceptable and we will hold SSEN to account for the loss of income for local businesses.”

Local Independent district councillor Jacqui England, who also owns town quay business Truly Scrumptious, highlighted the impact.

“The whole quay area was incredibly quiet – no one could function, and there were no emails coming through,” she said.

“Someone came down from the High Street, saying they had gone to Costa to get a coffee, but Costa couldn’t open.

“I think we’re so reliant on technology that once there’s no electricity the whole economic system here ceases.”

But Cllr England stressed she was particularly concerned about how the area’s vulnerable residents were affected by such incidents.

“Some don’t have the back-up of another phone, and no family to ask questions of, so they’re just left sitting there not knowing what’s happening,” she commented.

During the outage, SSEN said its engineers were “working hard” to resolve the issue.

“The cause of this power cut is a fault on our underground network,” it wrote on Powertrack.

“This is the most common type of fault we see, and our teams are very experienced in dealing with these issues.

“In most cases, our engineers are able to get your power back on by simply replacing a fuse at the local substation, however, if the fault is severe, this may take us longer to fix.”

The A&T has contacted SSEN for further details.