Cables & pipelines

We grant permissions for the laying, maintenance and operation of cables and pipelines on the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland out to twelve nautical miles.

This helps to facilitate the transmission of telecommunications, electricity, oil and gas. As part of our spatial planning, which helps manage the many uses of the seabed, we also ask to be informed of cables and pipelines that transit the UK continental shelf (within the 200 nautical mile limit).

Telecommunication cables

We grant permissions for undersea fibre optic cables, helping to facilitate national and international communications infrastructure, supporting internet and telephone traffic. There are over 70 active telecommunication cable systems running across the seabed we manage, comprised of many hundreds of individual cables.

Electricity Interconnectors

Interconnectors are transmission cables that allow electricity to be transferred between countries, helping to support resilience of supply. The Crown Estate currently licences electricity interconnectors with France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.

Pipelines

The Crown Estate grants leases for pipelines on or buried beneath the seabed, within the 12 nautical mile territorial limit, which transport oil and gas from offshore reservoirs to processing terminals on the UK coastline, or between countries.