Publication of First National Policy Statement
The first of the long awaited National Policy Statements was published in draft on 9 November 2009 and provides the context for decision making by the Infrastructure Planning Commission on energy infrastructure and ports. The National policy statement is out for consultation until 22 February 2010. It comprises one overarching energy policy document and one for each of the following areas: fossil fuels, nuclear, renewable, transmission networks and oil and gas pipelines.
All National Policy Statements have to be subject to public consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny. The Secretary of State must have regard to the outcome of public consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny when deciding whether or not to proceed to designate the National Policy Statement. It is therefore vitally important for interested parties to ensure that they make their views known during the consultation period.
National Policy Statements are intended to be the primary policy document for the Infrastructure Planning Commission, applicants and other interested parties when considering applications for development consent made under the Planning Act 2008. The Infrastructure Planning Commission can, of course, consider other matters which it considers both important and relevant to its decisions. And this may include, for example, the local development framework.
The Government has also made it clear that the policy set out in the National Policy Statements will be a material consideration when schemes which are not Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, because they do not fall within the parameters set out in the Planning Act 2008, are involved.
Energy
The energy National Policy Statement sets out the national need for a low-carbon, secure energy mix and spells out that this will mean significantly more generating capacity. The Government has stressed that this will mean significantly more onshore and offshore wind, new nuclear and new coal-fired power stations fitted with carbon capture and storage.
The National Policy Statement makes it clear that the Infrastructure Planning Commission may “exceptionally” grant consent to development in national parks, the Broads and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty if the development can be demonstrated “to be in the public interest” due to “national considerations”. This will be of particular interest to windfarm developers who have historically had difficulty reconciling the need for their schemes to be geographically located where wind speeds are suitable against the need to protect designated sites which are often found in the same geographical location.
Fossil Fuels
The National Policy Statement acknowledges the vital role that fossil fuels play in providing reliable electricity supplies and a secure and diverse energy mix. It also highlights the need to move towards a secure decarbonised electricity system. To achieve this, it is Government policy that all new coal fired generating stations should be required to capture and store the carbon emissions from a substantial proportion of their capacity. The Government therefore plans to provide funding for up to four coal carbon capture and storage demonstration projects to be operational by 2020 and it expects that new conventional coal fired generating stations will retrofit carbon capture and storage to their full capacity by 2025.
The National Policy Statement requires applicants to fully explore options for incorporating combined heat and power in applications for fossil fuel generating stations. Carbon capture readiness must also be assessed and consent will not be granted unless it is clear that this has been done. All new coal fired generating stations must have carbon capture and storage on at least 300 MW net of the proposed generating capacity. Coal fired generating stations that have a capacity of less than 300 MW must capture carbon from their whole capacity.
Renewable Energy
The National Policy Statement confirms the importance of electricity generation from renewable sources of energy to the Government’s transition to a low carbon economy. It notes that there are ambitious renewable energy targets in place and a significant increase in generation from large scale renewable energy infrastructure is necessary.
The National Policy Statement includes a requirement that the IPC must consider the impact of climate change on renewable energy infrastructure and applicants must demonstrate how the proposed project would be resilient to effects from rising sea levels and increased risk from storm surge, increased risk of flooding, impact of higher temperatures and increased risk of drought affecting river flows.
Oil and Gas Pipelines
The National Policy Statement makes it clear that the Government considers the efficient import, storage and transmission of natural gas and oil products to be crucial to meeting the country’s energy needs during the transition to a low carbon economy. Investment in new oil and gas infrastructure is key to ensuring security of supply.
As for renewable energy projects, the Government wants applicants to show how oil and gas infrastructure will be resilient to the impacts of climate change in particular, increased risk of flooding, damage from increase of wind and storms to LNG facilities and gas reception facilities and pipelines, higher temperatures affecting the storage, processing or re-gasification of liquified natural gas at LNG import facilities and increased risk of earth movement or subsidence from increased risk of flooding and drought affecting pipelines.
Nuclear
The Government has taken advantage of the ability to make National Policy Statements location specific by identifing ten sites which have been assessed as potentially suitable for new nuclear power stations. The approved nuclear sites, either existing nuclear power station locations, or at or close to the Sellafield nuclear complex, are:
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Bradwell
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Braystones
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Hartlepool
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Heysham
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Hinkley Point
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Kirksanton
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Oldbury
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Sellafield
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Sizewell
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Wylfa
Dungeness was nominated but has not been listed as ministers did not consider that potential environmental impacts at this site could be mitigated. The administration also had concerns about coastal erosion and associated flood risk at that nominated site.
Three other sites for new nuclear stations were considered to meet the requirements of alternative sites under the provisions of the Habitat Directive. These locations were Druridge Bay in Northumberland, Kingsnorth in Kent and Owston Ferry in South Yorkshire. None of these, though, proved suitable.
Ports
There is also a draft National Policy Statement for ports although the Government has made it clear it does not expect any major project proposals initially because there has been a number of new port schemes in recent years.
Guidance
The Government has produced a leaflet called “Infrastructure Planning – How will it work? How can I have my say?” to explain the new process for deciding major infrastructure applications and to highlight the importance of people making their views known during the consultations on the National Policy Statements as well as at the pre-application consultation stage and during the Infrastructure Planning Commission’s determination of applications.
This article was first published in the Property Law Journal on 30 November 2009
