A new decision and miscellaneous NSIP application news

This entry reports on miscellaneous happenings with applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects.

Burbo Bank

The Burbo Bank wind farm application was granted today, the 26th decision and 25th positive one. Here's the usual list of stats:

• project: to build a wind farm capable of generating up to 259MW to the north-west of Liverpool;
• promoter: DONG Energy;
• application made: 22 March 2013;
• one inspector, Rynd Smith, his third application and second windfarm;
• 33 relevant representations, a low number;
• 66 written representations, on the high side and unusual to be more than the relevant representations;
• 268 questions in the first round - high;
• one open floor hearing, no compulsory acquisition hearings (there is no compulsory acquisition in the DCO) and ten issue-specific hearings;
• no Local Impact Reports, the only project to have none to date;
• examination exactly six months, recommendation exactly three months, decision exactly three months; and
• 553 days from application to decision, i.e. 18 months, longer than usual. There was a gap between the end of representations and the preliminary meeting.

The government added a requirement on night-time piling to reduce the impact on residents. The government did not agree to the Marine Management Organisation's request to have a power to charge fees included in the order.  Every project has a key species, and this one was the red-throated diver.

Navitus Bay

The Navitus Bay wind park application (is that more leisurely than a wind farm?) is breaking some records in the Planning Act statistics stakes. Previously, the panel of four inspectors have asked for around 85 statements of common ground, but this week the inspectors' first list of questions was published. The previous record of 421 questions held by the Thames Tideway Tunnel was blown out of the water when a list of 518 questions was issued on Monday, with just 20 working days to answer them. When I say 'working days' I am counting Monday to Friday, but I suspect in this case those won't be the only days on which work will be carried out.

North Norwich Distributor Road

The first, to my knowledge, application has been made to subject additional land to compulsory purchase powers during an examination. This is in relation to the Norwich Northern Distributor Road, where promoter Norfolk County Council applied to add five new parcels of land to the book of reference on Monday. The examination is over half way through - it will be interesting to see whether the mini-examination that is required into the additional land can be completed within the original timescale.

Walney

The Walney wind farm is in its three-month decision phase, but a mini-consultation has been launched on two things: proposed changes to the DCO agreed between the promoter and the Marine Management Organisation since the examination ended, and the implications of the withdrawal of plans to develop wind farms nearby on cumulative environmental impacts. The mini-consultation closes next Friday, 3 October, and a decision on the application is due by 7 November.

Other news

Two of the last three applications to be made to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) are for internal power generation, one for a steel works and one for a paper mill. This emphasises that the threshold for a power project to be legally 'nationally significant' does not require it to contribute power to the national electricity grid. 

Although these two projects are extensions of more than 50MW each, the threshold for extending an existing generation project is lower than that. It is simply that the extended project will be able to generate more than 50MW. Thus going from 55MW to 57MW would be an NSIP. Not a lot of people realise that, methinks. Is adding one wind turbine to a wind farm the extension of a generating station, for example?

Finally, I thought you'd be amused that of over 37,000 documents that can now be found on the PINS website relating to applications that have been made, still only one of them has been rated by PINS as 'good'. Up your game, project promoters!