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Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived.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
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am enquiring who would determine an onshore wind project located in Wales with a capacity of 50 MW. Would this be an NSIP project and determined by Planning Inspectorate, as all literature suggests that an NSIP is only applicable for a project above 50 MW. Developments of National Significance are noted as project between 10 and 50 MW, therefore where does a 50 MW project sit?
Your feedback on this would be greatly appreciated as I am currently writing our internal procedures for consenting projects.
Advice given
Hi Ffion
Thank you for your email of 10 August 2016.
The Infrastructure Planning (Onshore Wind Generating Stations) Order 2016, made on 4 March 2016, has removed onshore wind energy generating stations from the Planning Act 2008 NSIP consenting regime (see Regulation 3):
attachment 1
The Onshore Wind Generating Stations (Exemption) (England and Wales) Order 2016, then made a direction under s36(4) of the Electricity Act 1989 to provide that the requirement for consent under the Electricity Act 1989 does not apply to onshore wind generating stations:
attachment 2
The Orders above have moved the consenting process to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for onshore wind farm projects. Therefore a proposed onshore wind project with a capacity of more than 50 megawatts in England and Wales would no longer be determined under the Planning Act 2008 NSIP regime.
The Developments of National Significance (specified Criteria and Prescribed Secondary Consents) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulation 2016, makes changes to the threshold for Developments of National Significance (DNS) energy generating stations in Wales, to capture those onshore wind generating stations which have an installed generating capacity of above 50MW into the DNS regime (see Regulation 3):
attachment 3
As such, and in answer to your query, an onshore wind generating station which “is expected to have (when constructed) an installed generating capacity of 10 megawatts or above”, would be identified as a DNS project under the Developments of National Significance (specified Criteria and Prescribed Secondary Consents) (Wales) Regulations 2016 (subject to the savings provisions).
Developers are advised to seek their own legal advice on such matters, however I hope the information above is helpful. If you would like further information on the DNS process please follow this link: attachment 4
Regards
Steffan
