Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what influence and by what means communities in the North West will have in decision making over how and who progresses the construction of the North West Coast Connection.

As a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, the proposed North West Coast Connection (NWCC) will require development consent under the Planning Act 2008. This requires developers to carry out extensive consultation on their proposals including with local communities before any formal development consent application is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. Local communities can also provide their views to the Planning Inspectorate during the examination of any formal application. Further information is available on the National Infrastructure Planning website:

https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/

The design and implementation of the proposed competitive regime for onshore transmission assets is properly a matter for Ofgem as the independent regulator. As part of Ofgem’s decision making process on whether to tender the NWCC project they have run an open consultation which has enabled stakeholders including local communities to put forward their views for consideration. If Ofgem decides to tender the project then this process will run in line with the rules ensuring fair and transparent procurement. It is important to note that regardless of who constructs and maintains an asset all network operators must be licenced by the regulator and are subject to strict controls to ensure safety, security and reliability.