“I write to formally register North Wales Police (NWP) as an interested party in the North Wales Connection Development Consent Order (DCO) and provide below our Relevant Representation.

NWP has responsibility for policing the whole of North Wales, which includes the Counties of Isle of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham. If the North Wales Connection Project is agreed NWP’s responsibilities will extend to the provision of policing for all associated works and impacts.

The DCO has been reviewed and the proposals will place a significant impact on North Wales Police and the communities it serves. The DCO submission currently contains insufficient mitigation to properly address the potential impacts relating to services provided across the force, which includes Roads Policing, Local Policing, Protecting Vulnerable People and Forensic Services, amongst other key support and logistics areas. There are a number of factual inaccuracies within the documentation particularly in relation to the Traffic Assessment.

Overall the proposals will need to ensure that NWP will be able to maintain a policing service that continues to be fully effective in covering all eventualities without detriment to the current policing service afforded to its communities.

The North Wales Connection DCO has been submitted at the same time as the Wylfa Newydd Nuclear Power Station DCO (PINS Reference Number: EN010007). This other DCO is currently going through the Examination process, and it is likely that both projects will be under construction simultaneously. It is our view that neither DCO application has adequately assessed the likely cumulative impacts during construction of the other. It will be essential to effectively assess the collective significant potential impact of both projects, particular around the areas of Construction Traffic Management, Staff Travel and Worker Accommodation. These significant areas are yet to be accurately assessed but it is crucial that a full and robust assessment of both are properly undertaken in order to ensure that each project is robust, deliverable and free from legal challenge.

As a direct result of the North Wales Connection DCO, the likely impacts are:
Workforce and Transport - An increase in population and a significant increase in road traffic, particularly during construction. This will require an appropriate increase in police resources and infrastructure in order to maintain a safer North Wales for its communities, visitors and the construction work force.

A robust assessment and monitoring process will be essential throughout the build to effectively assess the resource and funding implications. It is imperative that NWP are involved in assisting with the drafting, agreement and sign off of the relevant documentation referred to in the DCO.

The application does not contain sufficient information at this time to effectively validate the traffic assessment and questions will be raised concerning the validity of the baseline data used.

Protest - The experience from other nationally significant developments has shown that should protest/s occur and become protracted the resulting impact on the local police force can be extremely detrimental both in terms of resourcing and finance.
To date the proposals have already seen protests and there is a considerable potential that the development may draw protestors and this will need to be correctly assessed and adequately mitigated for.

Menai Crossing - National Grid are still conducting tests regarding the tunnelling works required for the proposed development and as such no final decision has been made regarding the preferred option. The crossing is critical to the delivery of the construction programme but NWP has been unable to determine the true potential impact due to the lack of information available at this time. This position will need to be confirmed by the applicants as soon as possible to allow NWP to assess the potential impacts and the associated mitigation potentially required as a result. Absent any certainty regarding the options to be utilised, NWP will be seeking appropriate security within the DCO and any associated planning obligation, in order to ensure that all potentially options are properly assessed, reviewed, monitored and correctly mitigated.

Monitoring and Reporting - Agreement on the definition of the figures and terms included in the monitoring and reporting is critical to understanding the impact from the development and applying appropriate mitigation

Intangible Impacts - NWP is undertaking an assessment of the potential impacts of the development but expect there will be future, at present intangible, impacts that will become clearer as the construction gets under way, particularly in combination with the Wylfa Newydd construction programme These will need to be factored in with an appropriate mechanism and funding put in place to cater for them.

We reserve the right to add to the matters raised herein as the Examination proceeds. Further, detailed comments will be provided through the submission of Written Representations to the Examination. ”