Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm

What happens next

A decision on the application for a Development Consent Order for Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm was taken on 31 December 2020 and has now been issued.

The period for legal challenge is defined in s118 of the Planning Act 2008. Further information about legal challenge can be found in the letter sent to all Interested Parties accompanying the Secretary of State’s decision and statement of reasons.

If you have any queries about the process please email the Planning Inspectorate at [email protected] or telephone the helpline on 0303 444 5000.

Timeline (76 items)

A Decision Letter (PDF, 175KB) and Amendment Order (PDF, 121KB) have been issued by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to make a change that is not material to the Hornsea Three Offshore Wind Farm Development Consent Order 2020 (PDF, 3 MB).

17 April 2023

Responses to the Applicant’s Kittiwake Implementation and Monitoring Plan (PDF, 1 MB) have been published.

06 March 2023

The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero has today issued a letter (PDF, 145 KB ) correcting a typographical error contained within the Regulation 7(3) letter (PDF, 159 KB)  issued by the Secretary of State on 21 December 2022.

The Consultation and Publicity Statement (PDF, 58 MB) for the non-material change application has been published.

03 March 2023

Representations received in response to the application for a non-material change to the Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm Development Consent Order have been published.

20 February 2023

Orsted Hornsea Project Three (UK) Limited (Orsted) has submitted a kittiwake implementation plan (KIMP) to the Secretary of State.

In accordance with Schedule 14 Part 1 of the Hornsea Three Offshore Wind Farm Order 2020 the Secretary of State has invited the Marine Management Organisation, Natural England, Hartlepool Borough Council, Durham County Council, and East Suffolk Council, to comment on the KIMP.

The deadline for responses is 23.59 on 3 March 2023.

02 February 2023

An application for a non-material change to the Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm Development Consent Order has been made by Orsted Hornsea Project Three (UK) Ltd.

 

If you wish to make a representation, this should be emailed to [email protected] or posted to:

 

National Infrastructure

The Planning Inspectorate

Temple Quay House

2 The Square

Bristol BS1 6PN

 

The deadline for receipt of representations is 11:59pm on Thursday 16 February 2023

12 January 2023

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has issued a letter on 21 December 2022 confirming those parties that the Applicant should consult regarding a proposed non-material change application relating to the Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm Order 2020.

21 December 2022

The Applicant has today submitted updated Sandbank Implementation Plans to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for his consideration.

07 April 2022

The Secretary of State has received comments on the Sandbank Implementation Plans from the The Marine Management Organisation (MMO), Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and Natural England.

25 January 2022

Following a request from the JNCC and Natural England (PDF, 108KB), the Secretary of State has extended the deadline for response to his invitation for comments on the Sandbank Implementation Plans to 23.59 on Friday 21 January 2022.

10 December 2021

The Applicant has submitted Sandbank Implementation Plans to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for his consideration. The Secretary of State has invited the MMO, the JNCC and Natural England to comment on the Plans (PDF, 142KB), in accordance with Schedule 14 of the Hornsea Three Offshore Windfarm Order. The deadline for response is 23.59 on Friday 7 January 2022.

03 December 2021

The Secretary of State issued Approval Letters on 7 September 2021 for the Plans of Work for the Offshore Ornithology Engagement Group and the Benthic Compensation Steering Group, pursuant to Part 1 and Part 2 of Schedule 14 to the Hornsea Three Offshore Wind Farm Order 2020 (as amended).

08 September 2021

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has issued a Correction Order. For further information please refer to the following decision documentation:

24 May 2021

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has today granted development consent for the project. For further information please refer to the following documents:

31 December 2020
Decision made by the Secretary of State
31 December 2020
10 November 2020

The Secretary of State has received responses from the Applicant and other Interested Parties to his minded-to approve letter (PDF, 434kb) on 1 July 2020 and is reviewing these responses. The Secretary of State invites comments from Interested Parties on the responses to his consultation by 2 November 2020.

02 October 2020

Letter submitted by Leigh Day on behalf of The Wildlife Trusts (PDF 340KB) in relation to the Hornsea Project THREE draft HRA.

07 September 2020

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is minded to approve this application subject to further information from the applicant and Interested Parties on a number of specific issues.

To allow time for the Applicant to submit further information by 30 September 2020 and to allow for consultation on the further information with Interested Parties, the Secretary of State has set a new deadline of 31 December 2020 for his decision on this application. The Secretary of State has asked the Planning Inspectorate to facilitate the consultation process via the project page of the National Infrastructure Planning website.

01 July 2020

The Secretary of State has decided to re-set the statutory deadline for this application to 1 July 2020. A statement confirming the new deadline for a decision will be made to the House of Commons and House of Lords in accordance with section 107(7) of the Planning Act 2008 as soon as possible.

01 June 2020

The Secretary of State has received responses to his request for comments from interested parties on the representations received to the consultation letters dated 27 September 2019 and 31 October 2019.

24 April 2020

In response to a request from an interested party, the Secretary of State has agreed to extend the date for comments from interested parties on the representations to Wednesday 22 April 2020.

03 April 2020

IMPORTANT: As a result of ongoing Government guidance relating to COVID-19 the Planning Inspectorate is seeking to ensure that all Parties are notified of key developments on projects, in a timely manner. In order to help achieve this, and to minimise any delays which could arise if the postal service is affected, it would be extremely helpful if registered Parties that have not already done so could supply us with a contact e-mail address as soon as possible (details in the contact information heading of the project page).

Please be assured that this information will be managed in line with our Privacy Notice.

25 March 2020

The Secretary of State has received responses from the Applicant and other interested parties to his consultation letters dated 27 September 2019 and 31 October 2019 by the 14 February 2020 deadline. The Secretary of State considers the information provided by the Applicant in response to those letters to contain new environmental information and invites comments from interested parties on the representations received by 16 April 2020.

02 March 2020

A Written Ministerial Statement has been made announcing that the decision by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has been delayed until 1 June 2020.

06 February 2020

The Secretary of State’s response to Applicant’s letter dated 8 October 2019 has been published.

31 October 2019

The Applicant has sought clarification from the Secretary of State on certain matters set out in her letter of 27 September 2019 before they can provide further submissions to fulfil the requirements of the consultation. The Secretary of State has confirmed she will be responding to the Applicant in due course on these matters.

17 October 2019

The Ministry of Defence has responded to The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s request for further comments.

25 July 2019

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has requested further comments from the Ministry of Defence.

10 July 2019
Recommendations given by the Planning Inspectorate
02 July 2019
03 April 2019
Examination ends

02 April 2019
28 March 2019

The Audio for Open Floor Hearing 2 (28 January 2019) has been published.

27 March 2019

The Examining Authority has requested further information from:

Ørsted Hornsea Project Three (UK) Ltd
Norfolk County Council
Natural England

19 March 2019

Agendas for the hearings taking place between 25 and 26 March 2019 have been published:

Agenda for Open Floor Hearing 3
Agenda for Further Issue Specific Hearing
Agenda for Further Compulsory Acquisition Hearing

Deadline 7 Submissions have also been published.

15 March 2019

The notification letter for the hearings taking place between 25 and 26 March and the procedural decisions relating to the additional land and to amend the time table has been published.

Please note that the Issue Specific Hearing on Friday 8th March 2019 will commence at 9am (doors open at 8:30am) and not at 9.30.

07 March 2019
06 March 2019

The Report on the Implications for European Sites has now been published.

21 February 2019
20 February 2019

Deadline 6 Submissions have now been published and added to the Examination Library.

13 February 2019

Following the Examining Authority’s decision to accept the Additional Land Application for examination, comments are now invited on the Applicant’s proposed provision before Thursday 28 February 2019. Any comments must be made on the Registration and Relevant Representation Form and must relate to the Applicant’s application for Additional Land only.

The Examination Authority has issued a procedural decision regarding the Applicant’s proposed design changes to the original application.

The Examination Authority has issued a procedural decision to accept the proposed provision for the compulsory acquisition of additional land as part of the application.

24 January 2019

Deadline 4 Submissions have now been published and the Exam Library has been updated.

23 January 2019

Please note that the meeting point for the Accompanied Site Inspection on the 28 January 2019 is the car park at Lakenham Hewett RFC, Main Rd, Swardeston, Norwich NR14 8DU and not the Norwich Rugby Club car park as originally advised.

20 December 2018

The Examining Authority’s Further Written Questions has been published.

20 December 2018

A new hearing notice has been published. Read the notice

19 December 2018

Deadline 3 Submissions have been published.

18 December 2018

Please note a number of documents were omitted from the Examination Library following publication of the Deadline 1 documents, these have now been published and are available. In relation to Deadline 2, please note documents REP2–014 and REP2–015 have today been republished to include annexes that were omitted from the original publication.

Hearing agendas have now been published.

27 November 2018

Hearing agendas have now been published.

27 November 2018

The submissions for Deadline 2 have now been published.

23 November 2018

The submissions for Deadline 1 have now been published.

09 November 2018
07 November 2018
05 November 2018

The note of the Preliminary Meeting has been published.

25 October 2018

Read the letter

The Examination Timetable (Rule 8 letter) has been sent to Interested Parties

Procedural decision following Preliminary Meeting

09 October 2018

The recording of the Preliminary hearing has now been published.

03 October 2018
Preliminary Meeting takes place
02 October 2018

The notification of Preliminary Meeting (Rule 6 letter) has been sent Read the letter

The letter also includes the draft Examination Timetable and Initial Assessment of Principal Issues.

04 September 2018

The Relevant Representations submitted by the parties listed in the Applicant’s letter dated 25 July 2018, have been published.

03 September 2018

The applicant has sent us a letter, explaining that some of the notifications that they sent about the opportunity to make relevant representations were returned undelivered. The applicant has sent further notifications to those parties only, and has allowed more time for them to make their representations by 23 August 2018. If you have received a further notification and wish to make a representation, please contact us at [email protected].

The relevant representations received up until 22 July 2018 have been published and any relevant representations received from those parties set out in the letter above, will be published when the further deadline has passed.

27 July 2018
Relevant representations published on the website
26 July 2018
Registration of interested parties closes
22 July 2018
Registration of interested parties begins
14 June 2018
Read the letter

The application has been accepted for examination

08 June 2018
Decision on whether or not to accept the application for examination
08 June 2018
Application received by the Planning Inspectorate
14 May 2018