Four spades in the ground
This entry reports on what has happened to projects consented under the Planning Act 2008 regime.
Since the Planning Act 2008 regime came into force in March 2010, 15 nationally significant infrastructure projects have been granted consent. Getting consent is obviously a significant milestone, but what has happened since then? Are any of them actually being built? Read on to find out.
Prompted by the groundbreaking ceremony for the Heysham to M6 Link Road last week (shouldn't more be made of these events?), I have done a bit of research on the status of the fifteen consented projects, and here is what I have come up with.
Project |
Consented |
Status |
Rookery South energy from waste |
October 2011 |
Held up in the courts |
North Doncaster railway chord |
October 2012 |
Under construction |
Ipswich railway chord |
September 2012 |
Under construction |
Kentish Flats Extension offshore wind farm |
February 2013 |
Construction to start autumn 2014 |
Hinkley Point C nuclear power station |
March 2013 |
Held up in the courts |
Brechfa Forest West onshore wind farm |
March 2013 |
No construction yet, awaiting grid connection application |
Galloper offshore wind farm |
May 2013 |
Construction to start late 2016 |
Heysham to M6 Link Road |
March 2013 |
Under construction |
Able Marine Energy Park |
December 2013 |
Undergoing special parliamentary procedure |
Triton Knoll offshore wind farm |
July 2013 |
No construction yet, awaiting grid connection application |
East Northant resource management |
July 2013 |
Consent implemented (did not require construction) |
Port Blyth biomass |
July 2013 |
Construction to start later this year |
M1 Junction 10a improvement |
October 2013 |
Under construction |
King's Lynn electric line |
December 2013 |
Construction to start in September 2014 |
So of the fifteen, only five are actually under construction or implemented. The four being constructed are all transport projects, and the fifth is a hazardous waste project that was an extension to an existing permission not requiring construction. It could thus be said that that project gets the gold medal for being the first to come into use.
No energy project has yet got to the stage of a spade in the ground, despite eight of the fifteen being of that type. Is this something to be concerned about? Not yet, but definitely something to keep an eye on. The regime's efficacy is not finally proven until projects come into use.
From a lawyer's point of view - from anyone's in fact - the start of construction is important because it means that the legal consent that was secured is actually implementable (at least to allow the project to be constructed, the final test being whether it can come into use).
Published DCOs are all well and good, but if their requirements (equivalent to planning conditions) are too difficult to discharge, or if the flexibility of the DCO is too limited and changes are needed to the project that are outside its scope, then hold-ups may occur. There are of course many other reasons for delay, but an implementable DCO is at least a necessary part of construction going ahead.
The good news is that projects consented under the Planning Act 2008 are actually getting built.