An application for a Material Change has been submitted for the Able Marine Energy Park Development Consent Order 2014.

To view the application documents for the Material Change and to make a Relevant Representation please follow this link.

The Secretary of State for Transport has issued a decision on the non-material change application made on 19 September 2018 for a non-material change to the Able Marine Energy Park Development Consent Order 2014. For further information please refer to the following decision documentation:

Secretary of State Decision Letter (PDF, 205 KB)
Amendment Order (PDF, 77 KB)
Test for Likely Significant Effects Report (PDF, 1 MB)

The responses to comment on the Test for Likely Significant Effects Report have now been published’

The Secretary of State has issued a letter (PDF, 91 KB) inviting Interested Parties to comment on the Test for Likely Significant Effects Report (PDF, 1 MB).
Please email your comments to [email protected]. by 23:59 on 16 March 2021.

Natural England has provided additional comments on the Non-Material Change Application (PDF, 318 KB).

Responses to the consultation by Department of Transport have been published.

Please be advised that the Secretary of State has received submissions from the Applicant following a request for further information made on 28 October 2020. The Applicant’s submissions were received by the deadline on 12 November 2020 and have been published on the Able Marine Energy Park National Infrastructure Planning website.

The Secretary of State now invites interested parties to comment on the Applicant’s submissions by 8 December 2020.

The Applicant has responded to the Secretary of State’s letter of 28 October 2020 with the following documents:

Covering Letter
Response to Secretary of State
Draft Amendment Order
Application Statement Rev D
Revised Shadow HRA
Indicative Masterplan
Halton Marshes Layout Core Area Buffers

The Applicant has responded to the Secretary of State’s letter of 28 October 2020 with the following documents:

Covering Letter
Response to Secretary of State
Draft Amendment Order
Application Statement Rev D
Revised Shadow HRA
Indicative Masterplan
Halton Marshes Layout Core Area Buffers

The Secretary of State has written to the Applicant with regard to their application for a non material change, (PDF, 196 KB) made on 19 September 2018. The Secretary of State is minded to regard the change sought as a material change subject to consideration of further submissions from the Applicant.

The Applicant is invited to respond to the Secretary of State by Thursday 12 November 2020 to provide any relevant information on the matters referred to in the letter.

The Marine Management Organisation has published a notice of variation (variation 2) to the Deemed Marine Licences regarding the Able Marine Energy Park.

An application for a non-material change to the Able Marine Energy Park Development Consent Order has been made by Able Humber Ports Limited.

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 29 October 2018.

The Marine Management Organisation has published a notice of a variation to Deemed Marine Licences regarding the Able Marine Energy Park:

A report of the Joint Committee on the Able Marine Energy Park Development Consent Order 2014 has been published, marking the end of the Special Parliamentary Procedure in relation to that Order.

The Development Consent Order came into force on 29th October 2014.

The Able Marine Energy Park development consent order is made in the form of a statutory instrument and needs to go through Parliamentary processes before coming into effect. This is because the Order contains a certain type of legislative provision; it applies statutory powers to compulsorily acquire land of statutory undertakers, who have sustained their objection to those powers. The Order was made on 13 January 2014 and laid before Parliament on 10 February 2014. Notice of this was given in the London Gazette on 4 February 2014.

For further information see the Parliament website.

The Secretary of State has granted development consent for this application.

For further information, please refer to the following decision documentation:

Secretary of State Decision Letter
Text of the Development Consent Order the Secretary of State intends to make
Planning Inspectorate notification of decision

See also:
Examining Authority’s Findings and Recommendations with Appendices – published on 28 August 2013 (ZIP 4 MB)

Responses to the DfT consultation have been published.

See also notification letter sent to interested parties on 18 October.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has asked the Planning Inspectorate to make available the Applicant’s response to the Department’s letter of 28 August 2013. For further information and details of how to respond to the DfT consultation please see the notification letter from The Planning Inspectorate.

Norman Baker, the Minister appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport to decide this application, has announced that he is “minded to approve” this application subject to receiving further information from the applicant on a number of specific issues. The “minded to approve” letter of 28 August 2013 along with a revised draft development consent order and the Panel’s report can be viewed on the DfT consultation page.

On 24 September 2013, the Department for Transport allowed a further 3 weeks (until 16 October 2013) for the Applicant to respond to the Department’s letter of 28 August 2013. The applicant’s request for further time, which explains the reasons for the request, has been published. As indicated in the Department’s letter of 28 August 2013, interested parties will have 28 days to comment on the Applicant’s response to that letter. The Department has not altered the 18 December 2013 deadline for the decision.

The Department for Transport has asked the Planning Inspectorate to make available correspondence received by the Department after the close of the examination and referred to in its “minded to approve” letter, including a certificate issued by the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs in relation to the Section 127 application made by the applicant, two “minded to issue” letters from the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in relation to the Section 127 applications made by the applicant (Centrica letter | EON letter) and a letter from the Crown Estate . The Department is not inviting representations on these matters.

On 25 July 2013 the Secretary of State set a new deadline for the decision on this application. For further information, please refer to the letter from the Department of Transport.

The Secretary of State has set a new deadline for the decision on this application. For further information, please refer to the letter from the Department for Transport

The Examining Authority has issued its recommendation to the Secretary of State. A decision will be published on or before 24 May 2013. Please note that the Examining Authority’s recommendation will also be made available at that point.

The Panel has concluded its examination of the Able Marine Energy Park application and has sent a letter to interested parties.

Now that the examination is closed the Panel will no longer be able to receive written representations and submissions about this application.

The Panel must prepare a report on the application to the relevant Secretary of State, including a recommendation, within 3 months of the end of the six month examination period. The Secretary of State then has a further 3 months to make the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent.

Associated British Ports have written to the Secretary of State for Transport requesting an extension to the Examination period under S.98(4) of the Planning Act 2008.

View Associated British Ports Letter

Able Humber Ports Ltd responded to Associated British Ports letter to The Secretary of State for Transport on the 22 November 12.

The Secretary of State for Transport has responded to Associated British Ports letter.

Rule 17 letters have been issued by the Examining Authority to:
– Able Humber Ports Ltd on 15 November
– Able Humber Ports Ltd, Natural England, Environment Agency, Marine Management Organisation and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds on 15 November
– The Crown Estate on 16 November

Audio recordings of the Specific Issue Hearings held on the 12 November (4 parts) and 13 November (4 parts) have been published. The audio files are large and may take a while to download. Follow the link to the hearings page and click on the Issue Specific Hearing – 12-11-2012 tab, to access the recordings for the first day and click on the Issue Specific Hearing – 13-11-2012 tab, to access the recordings for the second day.

The agenda for the Specific Issue hearings to be held 21 and 22 November has been issued by The Examining Authority

East Riding of Yorkshire Council have accepted the planning application under the Town and Country Planning regime for the proposed wet grassland site at Cherry Cobb Sands.

The Indicative Document Index has been updated to include documents received by the Planning Inspectorate from 26 October up to and including those received before noon 09 November.

An Indicative Document Index has been produced to aid parties in identifying the latest documents that have been added to the website. This document will be next updated on the 19 November.

The agenda for the hearings to be held 12 and 13 November has been issued.

The site visit that was cancelled on 18th October has been rearranged for 14 November. Please see the Rule 16 letter issued on 25th October 2012.

The hearing due to take place tomorrow (18 October) has been cancelled. Matters due for discussion have been covered in the hearings that took place on the 16 and 17 October.

The Examining Authority has issued an agenda for the Specific Issue Hearings on Local Impact Reports and Road Transport 22 October 2012.

The Examining authority has issued a supplementary agenda for the compulsory acquisition hearings taking place on 16, 17 and 18 October.

The Panel have replied to a letter from the RSPB. This letter will be of interest to all parties as it provides explanation of recent changes to the examination timetable.

The Panel have issued an agenda for the Compulsory Acquisition hearings to be held on 16, 17 and 18 October.

A revised examination calendar has been published, updated to reflect recent amendments to the examination timetable. Please ensure that you view this in combination with recent Rule 13/8(3) letters.

Audio recordings of the Specific Issue Hearings held on the 11 September, 12 September, 13 September and on the 14 September have been published. The audio files have been split into parts to make it easier to download however please note that these files are large and may take longer to download on slower internet connections. Go to the hearings page and filter by the date of hearing to access the files.

The Examining Authority have issued a notice confirming that two proposed hearings scheduled to be held on 09 and 11 October will now not take place. The notice also confirms the details of forthcoming hearings in October.

Audio recordings of the Open Floor Hearings held on the 05 September at Hedon (MP3 81 MB) and on the 06 September at Immingham (MP3 68 MB) have been published. The audio files are large and may take a while to download.

The Examining Authority has issued its second round of written questions. Responses to these questions should be provided by the timetabled deadline of Friday 7 September 2012.

The Examining Authority have issued a notice confirming the details of hearings contained with the examination timetable along with an amendment to the timetable to allow more time for hearings in October; please see Rule 8(3) and Rule 13 letter for further information.

In addition we have produced the timetable in calendar format in order to assist understanding of the various deadlines and events.

The Panel have provided a response to a letter from Osborne Clarke relating to EIA Regulation 17. View the response

Please note that the Panel’s Rule 8(c) letter of 10 July 2012 only extended the deadline for comments on Written Representations and comments on Relevant Representations to Friday 3 August 2012 – all other submissions noted within the examination timetable as due for submission on Friday 27 July 2012 remain.

Audio recordings of the Specific Issue Hearing held on the 12 July 2012 for the draft Development Consent Order and draft Deemed Marine Licence have been published in three parts. The audio files are large and may take a while to download.

Part 1 (MP3 109 MB)
Part 2 (MP3 77 MB)
Part 3 (MP3 42 MB)

Please note that the examination timetable has been amended; please see Rule 8(c) letter for further information.

All Written Representations, Comments, Local Impact Reports and responses to the Examining Authority’s 1st round questions have now been published.

Letter issued on 4 July by examining authority dealing with the Specific Issue Hearing considering the draft Development Consent Order to be held on 12 July 2012.

Audio recordings of the Preliminary Meeting have been published in 2 parts. Part 1 (MP3 23 MB) | Part 2 (MP3 65 MB)