£1m Rawtenstall project complete

£1m Rawtenstall project complete

The finishing touches have been put to a seven figure project replacing ageing electricity cables in an East Lancashire town.

Engineers from Electricity North West have successfully completed phase one of its Bacup Road, Rawtenstall project.

The region’s power network operator has so far invested £1m replacing nine underground 11,000 volt electricity cables across a 1.6km stretch in the area.  

The replacement cables, on both Bacup Road and Lower Cloughfold, will benefit 6,000 customers in the town, who have previously experienced power cuts over the past two years caused by the ageing cables which were installed in the 1950s.

Work started on the project back in April and finished on time despite testing weather conditions.

Michael Dawes, area manager for Electricity North West, said: “We’re delighted to bring a close to phase one of our project in Rawtenstall.

“It was a complex project replacing nine underground electricity cables but one that has certainly been a major success. We’ve invested a huge amount of money and it will only benefit the residents of Rawtenstall moving forward.

“We’re now completing the final reinstatements to grass verges and we aim to do this as soon as possible providing the weather allows us to do so.

“I want to thanks residents and businesses for their co-operation, patience and support. We’ve been on site for seven months and always looked to maintain contact and provide regular updates. All traffic management systems have been removed and I’m delighted to say that the cables are now live and providing power to the area.”

Following the success of phase one, Electricity North West has earmarked a further £1.2m to replace more ageing cables in Rawtenstall.

“We’re really pleased with the results of the project and we’ll be looking to commence phase two next year on Bacup Road towards Waterfoot,” added Michael.

“We’re committed to building a better Rawtenstall, and phase two, which will be a similar project to phase one, will benefit thousands more customers in the area.”

For more information about the project, please visit www.enwl.co.uk/rawtenstall.