The Secretary of State has made a Correction Order (PDF, 50 KB) affecting the A1 Birtley to Coal House development. A Correction Notice (PDF, 137 KB) was issued on 30 April 2021. The Correction was made following a request from The Applicant’s solicitor DLA Piper Scotland Ltd on 19 February 2021 (PDF, 52 KB).

The Secretary of State has granted development consent for this application. For further information please refer to the following decision documentation:

Planning Inspectorate Notification of Decision Letter (PDF, 93KB)
Secretary of State Decision Letter (PDF, 689 KB)
Development Consent Order as Made by the Secretary of State (PDF, 1MB)
Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report (PDF, 3MB)
Post-examination Submissions (PDF, 2MB)
Regulation 31 Notice (PDF, 55KB)

Gateshead Council Response to the Secretary of State’s consultation has been published (PDF, 181 KB).

The Secretary of State for Transport has requested comments from Gateshead Council by 27 November 2020 (PDF, 37 KB)

Notification of completion of the Examination has been issued.

Late Submissions accepted at the discretion of the Examining Authority have been published.

An Unaccompanied Site Inspection Note has now been published.

The Deadline 11 Submissions have been published.

The Examination closed at 23:59 on Tuesday 21 July 2020.

The Deadline 10 Submissions have been published.

The recordings and Action Points of the Hearings held on 14 July 2020 have been published.

Please note that the Open Floor Hearing scheduled to start today, Monday 13 July 2020 at 10.00am (Arrangements Conference at 9.30am), notified in our letter of 22 June 2020, has been cancelled.

The Deadline 9 Submissions have been published.

Agendas for the Hearings taking place on 13 and 14 July 2020 and a letter to all participants of the virtual Hearings has been published.

The Examining Authority’s further Written Questions (ExQ4) have now been published.

The Examining Authority’s further Written Questions (ExQ4) have now been published.

Please note that the following reserve Hearing dates that were notified in our letter of 22 May 2020 are no longer required and have now been cancelled:

Tuesday 30 June 2020 – Open Floor Hearings 3 and 4
Wednesday 1 July 2020 – Issue Specific Hearing 6
Thursday 2 July 2020 – Issue Specific Hearing 7 (dDCO)
Friday 3 July 2020 – Compulsory Acquisition Hearing 2

The notification letter for the Hearings taking place between 13 and 14 July, including the procedural decisions relating to the additional land and to amend the timetable has been published.

The recordings and Action Points of the Hearings held w/c 22 June 2020 have been published.

A Procedural Decision by the Examining Authority regarding the arrangements for a site inspection has been published.

The notification letter for the Hearings taking place between 13 and 14 July, including the procedural decisions relating to the additional land and to amend the timetable has been published.

Comments on the Applicant’s application for Additional Land requested by 18 June 2020 have now been published on the Relevant Representations page. They can also be viewed on the updated Examination Library under references RR-025 to RR-031.

Agendas for the Hearings taking place between 22 and 26 June have been published.

Examining Authority’s Proposed Schedule of Changes to the draft Development Consent Order  has been published.
A letter to all participants of the virtual Hearings has been published.
An updated version of the FAQ has been published.

Please note that the Examining Authority has decided not to issue a Report on the Implications for European Sites (RIES).

The  Deadline 8 Submissions have been published.

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 18 June 2020. 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  Deadline 7 Submissions have been published.

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 18 June 2020. Any comments must be made on the Registration and Relevant Representation Form and must relate to the Applicant’s application for Additional Land only.

A Procedural Decision by the Examining Authority has been published.

The Examining Authority’s third Written Questions (ExQ3) have now been published.

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 18 June 2020. 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 Notification of Hearings letter has been published. Also a letter advising of a Change of Appointment from Single to Panel of Examiners has been published.

The  Deadline 6 Submissions have been published.

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 18 June 2020. Any comments must be made on the Registration and Relevant Representation Form and must relate to the Applicant’s application for Additional Land only.

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 18 June 2020. 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 Examining Authority has issued a Procedural Decision to amend the Examination Timetable and request representations regarding potential Hearings.

Representations should be submitted via the Questionnaire, by Deadline 6 on 19 May 2020.

Representations Questionnaire

A Frequently Asked Questions (version 1.0) document has also now been published.

The Examining Authority has issued a Procedural Decision to amend the Examination Timetable and request representations regarding potential Hearings.

Representations should be submitted via the Questionnaire, by Deadline 6 on 19 May 2020.

Representations Questionnaire

A Frequently Asked Questions (version 1.0) document has also now been published.

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 and The Examining Authority has issued a procedural decision regarding the Applicant’s proposed changes to the original application

The  Deadline 5 Submissions have been published.

Late Deadline 4 submissions accepted at the discretion of the Examining Authority and a request to the Applicant for further information have been published.

The Deadline 4 submissions, including the Applicant’s formal request for a change to the DCO Application, have been published.

The Examining Authority’s further  Written Questions (ExQ2) have now been published.

As well as responding to the further Written Questions, Interested Parties are also invited to make any written submission at Deadline 4 which they otherwise would have intended to make at the postponed Open Floor Hearing, Compulsory Acquisition Hearing or Issue Specific Hearings.

IMPORTANT: Please note the Accompanied Site Inspection and Hearings due to be held w/c 30 March 2020 have been postponed in light of the current public health situation surrounding coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Examining Authority has consequently issued a Procedural Decision making an amendment to the Examination Timetable including notice of an additional set of Written Questions and an opportunity for further written submissions in lieu of the Hearings

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.

IMPORTANT: Please note the Accompanied Site Inspection and Hearings due to be held w/c 30 March 2020 have been postponed in light of the current public health situation surrounding coronavirus (COVID-19).

We are not yet in a position to identify a revised timetable as this will depend on the ongoing situation.

Advice is available and you are requested to please take careful note of it.

The  Deadline 3a Submissions have been published.

IMPORTANT: In the light of the current public health situation surrounding coronavirus (COVID-19), if you are planning to attend the Accompanied Site Inspection and/or the Hearings w/c 30 March 2020 please check this website regularly and before travelling to the event.

If there are any changes or cancellations required to the Accompanied Site Inspection and/or the Hearings this page will be updated as soon as possible. Advice is available and you are requested to please take careful note of it.

IMPORTANT: In the light of the current public health situation surrounding coronavirus (COVID-19), if you are planning to attend the Accompanied Site Inspection and/or the Hearings w/c 30 March 2020 please check this website regularly and before travelling to the event.

If there are any changes or cancellations required to the Accompanied Site Inspection and/or the Hearings this page will be updated as soon as possible. Advice is available and you are requested to please take careful note of it.

The Deadline 3 Submissions have been published.

The Deadline 2a Submissions have been published.

The Hearing Notification letter has now been published.

The Deadline 2 Submissions have now been published.

The Submissions for Deadline 1 and two letters notifying of changes to the Examination Timetable have now been published.

The Audio Recordings from the Preliminary Meeting and Issue Specific Hearing held on 21 January 2020, along with the Preliminary Meeting note and Hearing Action Points, have now been published.

The following documents have been published in advance of the Preliminary Meeting : Applicant’s responses to the post-acceptance s51 advice and the Applicants document providing details of changes to be requested to the Application.

The agenda for the Issue Specific Hearing on 21 January 2020 has been published.

The Examining Authority carried out Unaccompanied Site Inspections on the 27th and 28th of November. A note of the inspection has been published and added to the examination library.

The Relevant Representations and Additional Submissions accepted at the discretion of the Examining Authority, including updated application documents, have been published.