The list below is a record of advice the Planning Inspectorate has provided in respect of the Planning Act 2008 process.
There is a statutory duty under section 51 of the Planning Act 2008 to record the advice that is given in relation to an application or a potential application and to make this publicly available. Advice we have provided is recorded below together with the name of the person or organisation who asked for the advice and the project it relates to. The privacy of any other personal information will be protected in accordance with our Information Charter which you should view before sending information to the Planning Inspectorate.
Note that after a project page has been created for a particular application, any advice provided that relates to it will also be published under the ‘s51 advice’ tab on the relevant project page.
Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived. View the archived advice.
General
Enquiry
A possible solar NSIP.
Advice given
The Applicant gave an overview of the project, which comprised of a solar farm and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), with an estimated export capacity, of up to 350MW. The site comprised of some 545 hectares in the East Midlands. The Applicant advised that there are a number of other planned and consented solar projects in the area. The Applicant explained that a Grid Supply Point is currently being proposed by National Grid (NG), outside of the Development Consent Order (DCO) process. Discussions are ongoing with NG in relation to the Grid connection. The Inspectorate advised that an Examining Authority is likely to seek further clarification on the grid connection in due course. The Applicant highlighted the cable corridor crossing of a listed bridge, watercourse, and level crossing. The Inspectorate highlighted the need to enter early discussions with the host Local Authority, Historic England, Environment Agency and Network Rail in relation to these matters. The Applicant confirmed that from early studies, the majority of the site is Grade 3 agricultural land. The Applicant also highlighted nearby conservation areas and wildlife sites. Various environmental survey work has been undertaken to date and further work is shortly planned. The Applicant explained that negotiations remain ongoing with all landowners and legal matters expected to be shortly completed. However, the DCO may include compulsory acquisition powers for some stretches of the cable route. Finally, the Applicant confirmed that it is likely to undertake non-statutory consultation in Q2/Q3 2024, which would run in parallel to the proposed EIA scoping timescales. The Inspectorate advised the Applicant to avoid overlapping timescales for these matters, if possible, to avoid confusion for statutory parties. The Applicant intends to submit the DCO application for examination in Q1/Q2 2025.
