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28 July 2023

On 28 July 2023 the Secretary of State issued a Correction Notice (PDF, 114 KB)  and Correction Order (PDF, 98 KB) to make corrections to the A47/A11 Thickthorn Junction Development Consent Order 2023.

14 October 2022

The Secretary of State has granted development consent for this application. For further information please refer to the following decision documentation:

Secretary of State Decision Letter (PDF, 432 KB)
Development Consent Order as made by the Secretary of State (PDF, 2 MB)
Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report (PDF, 5 MB)
Planning Inspectorate Notification of Decision Letter (PDF, 63 KB)
Regulation 31 Notice (PDF, 81 KB)
Post Examination Submissions  (PDF, 727 KB)

14 October 2022

Decision made by the Secretary of State

13 October 2022

Responses from Interested Parties to the Applicant’s response to the Secretary of State’s consultation letter of 28 September 2022 have now been published.

6 October 2022

The Secretary of State (SoS) has issued a consultation letter (PDF, 33KB) requesting responses from Natural England and other Interested Parties to the Applicant’s response (PDF, 280 KB) to the SoS’s consultation letter of 28 September 2022 (PDF, 82KB).

The deadline for responses to this consultation is 12 October 2022.

6 October 2022

The Applicant’s response (PDF, 280 KB) to the Secretary of State’s consultation letter of 28 September 2022 (PDF, 82KB) has been published.

29 September 2022

The Secretary of State has issued a consultation letter (PDF, 82 KB) requesting information from the Applicant, including a response to the submission from Dr Boswell of 11 September (PDF, 168 KB) which has been published as a response to the Secretary of State’s Consultation 2.

The Deadline for the submission of a response to this consultation is 5 October 2022

20 September 2022

Given the National Mourning Period, the original decision date of 20 September will now be postponed. A Statement to Parliament setting a new deadline for a decision will be made as soon as possible.

Further responses to Secretary of State Consultation 2 from Highways England and Network Rail Infrastructure Limited have been published.

6 September 2022

The responses to the Secretary of State’s consultation letter of 19 August 2022 (PDF, 41 KB) have been published.

19 August 2022

The Secretary of State has issued a consultation letter (PDF, 41 KB) requesting information from the Applicant, South Norfolk District Council, Big Sky Developments Ltd, Network Rail and Interested Parties. The Deadline for the submission of a response to this consultation is 5 September 2022.

9 August 2022

The responses to the Secretary of State’s consultation letter of 25 July 2022 (PDF, 40KB) have been published.

25 July 2022

The Secretary of State’s consultation letter originally published Friday 25 July has been amended to include a request for Norfolk County Council: Secretary of State Consultation Letter 25 July 2022 (PDF, 40 KB). The updated deadline for responses is 8 August 2022.

22 July 2022

The Secretary of State has issued a consultation letter (PDF 40KB) requesting information from the Applicant, Norfolk County Council, Natural England, Historic England and Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm.

The Deadline for the submission of a response to this consultation is 5 August 2022.

20 June 2022

Recommendations given by the Planning Inspectorate

24 March 2022

The Examination closed at 23:59 on 23 March 2022 and the Examining Authority's Notification of the completion of the Examination has been published.

23 March 2022

The following submissions have been accepted into the Examination as an Additional Submission at the discretion of the Examining Authority.

National Grid Electricity Transmission plc (PDF, 116KB) – Withdrawal of Objection

Highways England (PDF, 355KB) – Applicant’s response to Deadline 10 Submissions

21 March 2022

The Deadline 10 documents have been published.

15 March 2022

The Deadline 9 documents have been published.

7 March 2022

The Deadline 8 documents have been published.

The hearing scheduled for Friday 4 March 2022 as a continuation if required of the Issue Specific Hearing 2 on Environmental Matters and the draft DCO (ISH2) held on Thursday 3 March 2022 will not be taking place.

The following video and transcripts have been published:

The Action Points from the Compulsory Acquisition Hearing (CAH1) (PDF, 39KB) held on Wednesday 2 March 2022 and Action Points from the Issue Specific Hearing on Environmental Matters and the draft DCO (PDF,108KB) on Thursday 3 March 2022 have now been published.

3 March 2022

The hearing scheduled for Friday 4 March 2022 as a continuation if required of the Issue Specific Hearing 2 on Environmental Matters and the draft DCO (ISH2) held on Thursday 3 March 2022 will not be taking place.

The following video and transcripts have been published:

Open Floor Hearing 2 – Tuesday 1 March 2022

Compulsory Acquisition Hearing 1 – Wednesday 2 March 2022

The Action Points from the Compulsory Acquisition Hearing (CAH1) held on Wednesday 2 March 2022 have now been published.

1 March 2022

The livestream is available at the following link for those who wish to observe the hearings w/c Tuesday 1 March 2022 in real time:

A47 -A11 Thickthorn Junction Open Floor Hearing 2, Compulsory Acquisition Hearing 1, ISH2 on Environmental Matters and the draft DCO Livestream

The following video and transcripts have been published:

Open Floor Hearing 2 - Tuesday 1 March 2022

The Action Points from the Compulsory Acquisition Hearing (CAH1) held on Wednesday 2 March 2022 have now been published

15 February 2022

The Deadline 7 documents have now been published

7 February 2022

The following submissions have been accepted into the Examination as an Additional Submission at the discretion of the Examining Authority.

Bidwells LLP on behalf of The Trustees of the Mackintosh Trust (PDF, 14 MB)
Bidwells LLP on behalf of The Trustees of CM Watt Residual Trust (PDF, 250 KB)

26 January 2022

The Examining Authority has issued a change to the Examination Timetable, notice of hearings and request for further information (PDF, 214 KB)

The submission from Climate Emergency Planning and Policy has been accepted into the Examination as an Additional Submission at the discretion of the Examining Authority.

An error has been noted in the Examining Authority’s Rule 8(3), 13 and 17 Notice of 26 January 2022. The Issue Specific Hearing scheduled for 3 March 2022 is listed as ‘Issue Specific Hearing 1 (ISH2)’; this is not correct and should instead read as ‘Issue Specific Hearing 2 (ISH2).

20 January 2022

The Examining Authority has made the decision that the hearings scheduled for 31 January – 3 February 2022 are no longer required and will not be taking place.

The Deadline 6 documents have now been published.

20 January 2022

The Examining Authority has made the decision that the hearings scheduled for 31 January – 3 February 2022 are no longer required and will not be taking place.

21 December 2021

The Deadline 5 submissions have now been published.

17 December 2021

The Examining Authority's Rule 13 - Notice of hearings to be held 31 January - 3 February 2022 has now been published.

The Examination Authority has issued a Rule 17 Request for Further Information (PDF, 104 KB)

14 December 2021

On 7 December 2021 the Applicant has submitted a request to make a non-material change to the application along with supporting documents. The Examining Authority has accepted this request.

The following letter has been issued today to the Beneficiary of Terence Arthur George Grint, Robert James Wilcox, Desmond Michael Hislop, Henry John Landis, David George Culling, Elizabeth Culling, and the Applicant.

8 December 2021

The submissions to Deadline 4 have been published.

30 November 2021

The Examining Authority’s Further Written Questions (ExQ2) (PDF, 294 KB) have now been published.

25 November 2021

The Deadline 3 submissions have now been published.

The Examining Authority has decided that the Accompanied Site Inspection scheduled in the Examination Timetable for 17 January 2022 (if required) will not be going ahead.

A Note of the Examining Authority’s Unaccompanied and Access Required Site Inspection on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 November 2021 (PDF, 77KB) has now been published.

19 November 2021

All recordings and transcripts for the hearings held between Tuesday 16 - Thursday 18 November 2021 can be accessed here:

Open Floor Hearing 1

Issue Specific Hearing 1

draft Development Consent Order Hearing 1

The Action Points from the draft DCO Hearing 1 (PDF, 81KB) held on Thursday 18 November have now been published.

The submission from Hethersett Parish Council (PDF,  149KB) has been accepted into the Examination as an Additional Submission at the discretion of the Examining Authority.’

16 November 2021

The livestream is available at the following link for those who wish to observe the Tuesday 16 - Thursday 18 November hearings in real time:

A47 -A11 Thickthorn Junction Open Floor, ISH1 on Environmental Matters and DCO1 Livestream

8 November 2021

The following agendas have been published:

Open Floor Hearing Tuesday 16 November 2021 (PDF, 529 KB)
Issue Specific Hearing 1 on Environmental Matters Wednesday 17 November 2021 (PDF, 564 KB)
Draft Development Consent Order Hearing 1 Thursday 18 November 2021(PDF, 545KB)

The submission from Bidwells LLP on behalf of The Trustees of the Mackintosh Trust (PDF, 24MB) has been accepted into the Examination as an Additional Submission at the discretion of the Examining Authority.

27 October 2021

The submissions to Deadline 2 have been published.

15 October 2021

The submissions to Deadline 1 have been published.

14 October 2021

Rule 13 - Notification of Hearings (PDF, 161 KB) providing notification of Hearings that will be held during the week commencing 15 November 2021 has been published.

Please let the Case Team know by Monday 8 November 2021 if you would like to attend and / or speak at a Hearing.

23 September 2021

The Examining Authority’s Rule 8 letter (PDF, 339 KB) which, along with issuing the Examination Timetable and other procedural matters, includes a Procedural Decision to close the Preliminary Meeting and The Examining Authority's First Written Questions (PDF, 825 KB) have been published.

23 September 2021

Examination begins

23 September 2021

The Examination Timetable (Rule 8 letter) has been sent to Interested Parties.

Procedural decision following Preliminary Meeting.

20 September 2021

Preliminary Meeting Part 2 Thursday 23 September

The Examining Authority (ExA) has considered the comments and representations made at Procedural Deadline B, and has decided that there are no procedural matters which need to be explored orally. As a result, in accordance with paragraph 7.5 of the Planning Inspectorate’s Advice Note 8.6 (Virtual Events), the ExA does not consider there is a need to reconvene the meeting and will instead formally close the meeting through a written Procedural Decision sent to all Interested Parties on 23 September 2021.

This means that a virtual meeting (PM Part 2) will no longer be held on that date and following the written close of the meeting, the Examination will start.

14 September 2021

The recording of Part 1 of the Preliminary Meeting on Monday 13 September 2021 has been published.

Written Submissions on the matters raised and requests to be heard at the Preliminary Meeting Part 2 can be made via the Make A Submission tab by Procedural Deadline B (Friday 17 September 2021).

13 September 2021

Preliminary Meeting takes place

10 September 2021

Instructions for those wishing to participate at the Preliminary Meeting Part 1 (PM1) have been sent.

A Livestream of PM1 is available for those wishing to observe in real time.

Please note that PM1 will start broadcasting LIVE once it opens at 10.00am on Monday 13 September 2021. If the Livestream doesn’t initially work, it may be resolved by refreshing the page.

7 September 2021

The submissions to Procedural Deadline A have been published.

20 August 2021

The notification of Preliminary Meeting (Rule 6 letter) has been sent.

The letter also includes the draft Examination Timetable and Initial Assessment of Principal Issues.

12 July 2021

Relevant representations published on the website

7 July 2021

Registration of interested parties closes

27 May 2021

Registration of interested parties begins

28 April 2021

The application has been accepted for examination

16 April 2021

The application documents have been published.

The documents have been published to help you become familiar with the proposal. There is no opportunity to make comments on the application at this stage.

If the application is accepted you will be able to register and express your views during the Relevant Representation stage and the subsequent Examination. Further detail on this process is provided in Advice Note 8.2 (PDF, 1.4MB).

8 April 2021

This application was received by the Planning Inspectorate on Wednesday 31 March 2021.

The applicant has agreed that all application documents can be published as soon as practicable to help everyone become familiar with the detail of what is being proposed in this application. The Planning Inspectorate will therefore make the application documents available as soon as practicable.


This provision is solely for the purpose of allowing more time to all those who wish to become familiar with the detail of what is being proposed ahead of the relevant representation period without lengthening the overall time required for the application process. There will be no opportunity at this stage to make comments on the application. However, if the application is accepted anyone interested in the application will be able to register and express their views during the relevant representation stage and the subsequent examination. Further detail on this process is provided in Advice Note 8.2.

31 March 2021

Application received by the Planning Inspectorate