Offshore Wind Projects

Kwasi Kwarteng Excerpts

Thursday 25th June 2020 Written Statements

[The Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth (Kwasi Kwarteng)]

This statement concerns applications made by Orsted Hornsea Project Three (UK) Limited and Norfolk Vanguard Limited for development consent for the installation, operation and maintenance of, respectively, the proposed Hornsea Project Three and Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farms, their related offshore infrastructure off the coast of Norfolk and their related onshore electrical connections within that county.

Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State 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 decision deadline for Hornsea Project Three offshore wind farm was re-set by written ministerial statements on 8 October 2019 and 23 January 2020. The deadline for the decision on the Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm was reset by written ministerial statement on 23 January 2020. The reset deadline for both applications was 1 June 2020.

The Secretary of State has decided to set a new deadline of 1 July 2020 for deciding these two applications to allow further consideration to be given to the environmental information received by the Secretary of State following consultation on both applications.

The decision to set the new deadlines for these applications is without prejudice to the decisions on whether to grant or refuse development consents for them.

[HCWS315]