The Planning Inspectorate (the Inspectorate) attended the initial Steering Group meeting for the Dogger Bank D Wind Farm, held via Teams on 12 July 2023. The meeting focused on the Applicant’s proposed Evidence Plan Process, approach and draft programme. The Applicant also provided a project update, an overview of key project milestones, and set out its general approach to addressing matters raised in the Inspectorate’s Scoping Opinion.

The Applicant explained it was keen to ensure minimal overlap with other Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) submissions, to assist with resourcing of the Steering Group. The Inspectorate advised that each Project Page on the National Infrastructure Planning website indicates the likely submission date for the DCO application. The Inspectorate also publishes Section 51 advice minutes for all NSIPs, which are likely to include additional information such as Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR) submission dates. The Applicant asked the Inspectorate what their view was on Principal Areas of Disagreement Summary Statements (PADSS) and if they would be useful for Dogger Bank D. The Inspectorate advised that PADSS may be requested by Examining Authorities, noting that PADSS have been trialled on selected Examinations (e.g the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine and the Lower Thames Crossing projects), but that this is not yet standard practice. PADSS are also being piloted at the pre-application stage by some Applicants who are participating in the Early Adopters Program. Statements of Common Ground are still likely to be required. Discussions in the meeting included whether the proposed number of Expert Topic Group (ETG) meetings (particularly for some topics e.g. ornithology) was comparable with other offshore wind farm NSIPs. Natural England provided a comment stating Hornsea 4 Offshore Wind Farm had a larger number of ETGs for some topics (e.g. ornithology) rather than the currently allocated maximum of five. Advice from the Inspectorate is that Steering Group meetings tend to be held quarterly, but may increase closer to key dates such as post-PEIR/ before DCO application. The ETGs are usually more frequent, but the number is likely to vary depending on the complexity of matters to discuss/ number of matters outstanding and will depend on the length of time until planned DCO application submission. Effort should be made to agree the number of ETGs with Natural England and other participants. In addition to the Hornsea 4 meeting programme, there are various published examples of the Evidence Plan documents provided with DCO applications (containing details of the programme of meetings), which the Applicant may wish to review. These include: Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm Extension Projects: attachment 1 Hornsea 3 Offshore Wind Farm: attachment 2 Thanet Extension Offshore Wind Farm: attachment 3