Here's a quick-&-rough (very! [Linked Image] ) outline of what we have to deal with:

[Linked Image]

I forgot to mention the pond before. As you can see, it's right in the corner of the land where it would get in the way of a direct underground route, hence having to go through the trees to the rear.

I thought there might have been some sort of easement rule as well, but I'm no lawyer.

I'm not sure it would be that easy to just extend the HV lines overhead anyway. To bring them on a direct route onto his land would likely result in them being too close to the other guy's house. The only other way I can see would be to spur off back in the little lane and come round across the field. I can see that costing as much if not more than running from the large 3-ph xfmr behind the poultry farm (which is actually a little further away than this drawing makes it appear -- sorry, it's not to scale!).

[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 03-09-2005).]