Advice to Offshore Wind

Enquiry

• From: Offshore Wind
• Date advice given: 21 December 2021
• Enquiry type: Email

Dear Sir/Madam, I work for a UK based offshore wind energy consultancy called BVG Associates and am currently trying to understand the permitting requirements across the UK. Can you please help answer the below? Across England and Wales: 1) What size offshore wind project qualify as NSIPs? Is it different between the nations? 2) Do developers need to secure development consent orders? Is there a different consent needed in Wales? 3) Who do developers need to apply to for the appropriate consent? 4) Who grants or refuses the appropriate consents? 5) How long does in take from application to decision? In addition, who are the appropriate authorities in Scotland and N. Ireland to issue equivalent consents?

Advice given

Thank you for your e-mail. I will answer your questions in the order you have raised them and have focussed solely on offshore wind, rather than other types of developments: 1) Section (s) 14 of the Planning Act 2008 (PA2008) sets out the different types of projects that could qualify as NSIPs. For energy generating stations in England and Wales, the thresholds are set out in s15; 2) For developments that appear to meet the criteria to be considered as NSIPs, Applicants are required to make an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) under s37 of PA2008. For developments in Wales below the threshold set out in s15, the application may need to follow the Developments of National Significance consenting regime; 3 & 4) For energy NSIPs, the relevant Secretary of State (Sos) is the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy. The application is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate, on behalf of the SoS. If accepted, the application is examined by an independent Examining Authority (ExA) and a Recommendation Report is provided to the SoS; the SoS will decide whether or not a DCO should be granted; 5) The Inspectorate has a suite of Advice Notes and information about the DCO process on its website. There is a video which sets out the 6 stages of the development consent regime. The 6 stages are: • Pre-application: this stage is run by the Applicant and there are no fixed timescales for this. The pre-application guidance sets out the key tasks the Applicant is required to undertake during this period. • Acceptance: following the submission of the application, the Inspectorate has a period of 28 days in which decide whether the application is of a satisfactory standard to proceed to examination; • Pre-examination: if the application is accepted, the public will have the opportunity to register as an Interested Party by making a Relevant Representation and for the ExA to prepare for the examination. Although there are no set timescales for this stage, it typically takes 3-4 months, ending following the close of the Preliminary Meeting (PM); • Examination: the ExA must complete its examination of the application within 6 months of the PM; • Recommendation and Decision: the ExA must submit its Recommendation Report to the SoS within 3 months of the close of the Examination. The SoS then has 3 months in which to decide the application; • Post decision: There is a six week period in which the SoS’ decision can be challenged in the High Court by way of a Judicial Review. As set out above, the PA2008 only applies to England and Wales; it does not apply to Scotland or Northern Ireland. As such you may wish to seek your own advice on consenting regimes for those countries. I hope this is of assistance.