The Scoping Application for this DCO should not be accepted because the Scope is lacking in a large amount of detail. From the Drawings submitted in Volume II Part I it is clear that areas that will have a significant impact on the Scheme DCO footprint are missing. Significant land take for activities such as Pipe Storage Areas (Pipe Dumps) Plant and Equipment Laydown areas, Project office compounds, fabrication areas, HDD pipe strings layout areas and accesses to and from the working pipeline corridor are all missing. These areas will require significant Environmental assessment for both the temporary and permanent impacts as with the rest of the pipeline corridor. Additionally if these areas are not included in the Scope the powers granted under any DCO application to NGC will be missing for these areas and will be open to challenge in the future. Clearly there is a lot of work still to be carried out to determine the Application Scope. I'd also like to make a point regarding the Applicant’s proposal to carry out detailed Ecology surveys post DCO decision and within the Pre-Construction phase. This is wholly not acceptable because inevitably the surveys will not be carried out fully (because of inevitable timeline pressures) and will not be open to the same level of scrutiny that will be carried out within the DCO process. This would set a dangerous precedence which again may be open to challenge post DCO award. The above points gives concern as to the level of the Applicant’s competence.

The Planning Inspectorate (on behalf of the Secretary of State) considered that the Applicant’s Scoping Report provided the necessary information to inform a request under Regulation 10(3) of the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (the EIA Regulations 2017). A Scoping Opinion was adopted by the Planning Inspectorate on 20 May 2022. As part of the pre-application discussions with the Applicant, their approach to ecological assessment was discussed in a meeting with the Planning Inspectorate on 7 October 2022. This included consideration of a late scoping consultation response from Natural England. A note of that meeting is available on our website in accordance with section 51 of the Planning Act 2008: attachment 1 In order for a Development Consent Order application to be accepted for Examination (at a later date), the Secretary of State will need to be satisfied that the Environmental Statement meets the minimum requirements of the EIA Regulations 2017. As the Humber Low Carbon Pipelines application has not yet been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate, we would encourage you to contact the Applicant (National Grid Carbon Limited) directly with any comments on the Proposed Development. Email: [email protected] The Planning Inspectorate has published a series of advice notes that you may find useful, which are available on the National Infrastructure Planning website: attachment 2. In particular, our Advice Note Seven provides information on the Scoping process. Advice Note Eight provides an overview of the planning process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects and the various opportunities for you to participate in the process.