North West Coast Connections is a National Grid Electricity Transmission project to connect the proposed nuclear power station at Moorside, near Sellafield inCumbria, and offshore wind farms with the existing high voltage transmission network.National Grid has identified strategic points where new connections could meet with the network. It is currently completing strategic options studies and has indentified that land based options could affect important designations including the Lake District National Park; the Yorkshire Dales National Park; the North Pennines; Arnside and Silverdale and the Forest of Bowland AONB and Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site.  SLR’s landscape architects have led the environmental and socio-economic appraisals of these options.Once consultation on the strategic options is completed, and a preferred option is identified, SLR Consulting will lead an in-house multi-disciplinary team to identify broad route corridors and sites for infrastructure using a combination of constraint and sensitivity mapping.  SLR will also undertake the environmental and socio-economic appraisal of the options using National Grid’s new Options Appraisal methodology.An extensive programme of public consultation will be carried out with the intention to submit an application for consent in 2015.