NATIONAL Grid has confirmed the details of 27 community information events it is holding.

People are invited to come and find out more about ongoing work the company is carrying out to develop its proposals for the North West Coast Connections (NWCC) project ahead of consultation planned to take place in 2016. The events will take place over seven weeks at venues across Cumbria and Lancashire.

The first event will be held on Tuesday 15 September 2015 in Egremont, and the final event will take place on 29 October 2015 in Heysham.

People are welcome to come along if they are interested in finding out more about the evolving proposals for the NWCC project, which is about connecting new sources of electricity in the North West to the “grid”.

In June, National Grid announced the corridor that it has taken forward for its proposals, which in the main follows the path of existing Electricity North West overhead lines around the coast of Cumbria. The project has now entered the next stage of development, with National Grid carrying out work to find the exact line that the new connection will take and considering a range of technologies as it decides how the connection will be built and where equipment will be located.

This work will also help the company determine the different methods it can use to reduce the impact of a new connection on the landscape.

The outcome of this work will be the subject of a public consultation planned to take place in 2016.

In the meantime, National Grid is holding this series of information events throughout September and October 2015 and inviting people to come and find out more about the work being done to help shape its evolving proposals for the new connection.

Robert Powell, Project Manager, said: “We’ve already carried out detailed studies to help us determine an initial design for the new connection. This design will change and evolve in the coming months as we take into account different environmental and land-use issues that will influence where a new connection can be built.

“We’re working with landowners, councils, and specialist groups to get more information about land-use issues that will inform the design of our proposals.

“In addition to this ongoing dialogue, we’re continuing to engage with local communities and individuals in the coming months. We value people’s views and have sought them from the early stages of our project. These information events provide an ideal opportunity for people to come along and learn more about our proposals while giving us the chance to build on our understanding of what is important to them.”

National Grid is posting over 105,000 newsletters to homes and businesses along its corridor to raise awareness about the information events that are taking place and to update people on the NWCC project. The company is keen to involve community groups in the process of developing its plans for the new connection.

Organisations interested in arranging a briefing on the project are asked to get in touch with the community relations team by calling FREEPHONE 0800 876 6990.

The company aims to submit an application for consent to build the new connection to the Planning Inspectorate in 2017. A decision will then be made by the Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change. If consent is granted, construction work is expected to start in 2019. National Grid is required to provide NuGen with the first phase of the connection into its transmission network by 2024.

People can register their details on the North West Coast Connections website to make sure they get updates on the project and are informed when the community events in the autumn are taking place:  www.northwestcoastconnections.com