Advice to Anthony Aldwinckle
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- From
- Anthony Aldwinckle
- Date advice given
- 14 December 2012
- Enquiry type
I understand the results of a ?consultation? process will be submitted to you on behalf of the Burbo Bank Extension Offshore Windfarm by the end of this year.
I wonder if you could inform me of the current status of this project?
Has the basic concept of increasing the size of the Windfarm off the Wirral/Merseyside coast been approved by the Government?
Also is the current consultation process requesting feedback on whether or not the Windfarm should be increased ? Or is it merely how it will be increased?
Advice given
i) The project is currently in the pre-application stage. At this stage the developer will be completing their statutory consultation duties under sections 42, 47 and 48 of The Planning Act 2008 (PA 2008) prior to their submission of the application to The Planning Inspectorate. You refer to the 'results of a consultation process' to be submitted to The Planning Inspectorate by the end of this year. What I suspect you are referring to here is the Consultation Report - an account of pre-application statutory consultation, including a summary of responses to that consultation, and details of how developers have taken account of these responses in shaping their application. The submission of a Consultation Report as part of an application is required by s37 of PA 2008. The application, however, is now expected to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in March 2013. Once the application has been submitted to The Planning Inspectorate there will be an opportunity for you and other parties to register to have your say on the proposal. For more information on this, please see our Advice note 8; available here: http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Advice-note-8.1v4.pdf
ii) While at policy level Government is pursuing offshore renewable energy production as part of a mix of energy provision, any extension to the existing Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm has not been approved. For offshore generating stations which fall within the definitions of section 15 of PA 2008, an application for development consent is required to be made to The Planning Inspectorate. The role of The Planning Inspectorate is to examine, report on and make recommendations to the relevant Secretary of State (SoS) on whether or not development consent should be granted. The relevant SoS is the decision-maker. For more detailed information on the process, please see our suite of advice notes; available here: http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/legislation-and-advice/advice-notes/
iii) The pre-application consultation process under PA 2008 will be relevant to the application to be submitted; in the context of your question, 'how' the size of the wind farm is proposed to be increased. The role of the pre-application consultation process and the Consultation Report is to inform The Planning Inspectorate's examination of the application. The Planning Inspectorate's examination of the application will not involve the consideration of the merits of offshore renewable energy production as this has already been consulted upon by Government. For national policy relevant to offshore wind farms please see National Policy Statement EN-1 and EN-3; available here: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/meeting_energy/consents_planning/nps_en_infra/nps_en_infra.aspx