The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)
This statement concerns two applications for development consent made under the Planning Act 2008: one by GT R4 Limited, trading as Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind for the construction and operation of an offshore generating station comprised of up to 100 wind turbine generators, with a capacity of up to 1.5 GW, off the Lincolnshire coast in the southern North Sea; and the other by Morecambe Offshore Wind Farm Limited for the construction and operation of an offshore generating station comprising up to 35 wind turbine generators, located in the eastern Irish Sea.
Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State (Ed Miliband) must make a decision on an application within three months of the receipt of the examining authority’s report unless exercising the power under section 107(3) of the Act to set a new deadline. Where a new deadline is set, the Secretary of State must make a statement to Parliament to announce it.
The statutory deadline for the decision on the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Farm Project was 10 October 2025. I have decided to allow an extension and to set a new deadline of 10 February 2026. This is to allow time to request further information that was not provided for consideration during the examination period and to give all interested parties the opportunity to review and comment on such information.
The statutory deadline for the decision on the Morecambe Offshore Wind Farm Generation Assets proposed development is 23 October 2025. I have decided to set a new statutory deadline of 18 December 2025. This is to allow time to request further information that was not available for consideration during the examination period and to give all interested parties the opportunity to review and comment on such information.
While it is not my preference to extend, I am clear that applications for consent for energy projects submitted under the Planning Act 2008 must meet the necessary standards.
The decision to set the new deadline for these applications is without prejudice to the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent.
[HCWS942]