Advice to Michael Troughton

Enquiry

• From: Michael Troughton
• Date advice given: 25 May 2011
• Enquiry type: Phone

What will happen now the IPC has been abolished?

If consent was needed for a generating station above 50MW would the application be considered by DECC under s.36?

Why are DECC are still considering projects which are over your thresholds?

Advice given

In April 2012, the IPC will be integrating with the Planning Inspectorate. In the new organisation, there will be a National Infrastructure Directorate. Under the Localism Bill, the DCO application process remains mostly unchanged; however the main difference is that the decision powers will be transferred to the Secretary of State.

At present, the Commissioner(s) will have 3 months after examination make a decision if a National Policy Statement is in place, however if there is not, a recommendation will be made to the SoS who will have further 3 months to make a decision. This will be the process for all applications after April 2012 under the Localism Bill.

The thresholds set out in sections 14-30 will remain unchanged and will still apply in April 2012. Any applications made to the IPC before this date will not be affected or delayed, the integration process will be as seamless as possible.

DECC still receive applications which do not fall within the IPC thresholds, for example, if a developer wished to build a wind farm with an output of 5MW, it would need consent under s.36 of the Electricity Act. The IPC was 'switched on' to receive applications on the 1st March 2010, before then DECC would have been the consenting body for all applications for Generating Stations. Some of these projects are still going through the application process and were not transferred to the IPC so are therefore still being considered by DECC.

It is worth noting that the IPC cannot determine whether a project is a NSIP. It is for the developer to determine whether their project is a NSIP.