What happens next
A decision on the application for a Development Consent Order for Little Crow Solar Park was taken on 05 April 2022 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 (44 items)
The Secretary of State has today granted development consent for this application. For further information please refer to the following decision documentation:
Secretary of State’s Decision Letter
Planning Inspectorate’s Notification of Decision Letter
Development Consent Order as made
Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report and appendices
Regulation 31 Notice
Post-Examination Submissions
Having carried out a comprehensive review of the Examination Library, which will form an annex to the Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report, it has come to our attention the clean version of the draft Development Consent Order submitted by the Applicant at Deadline 3 was not published at the time.
The tracked changes version was published at Deadline 3 but was incorrectly labelled as the ‘clean’ version. The clean version has now been published (Deadline 3 Clean Version of the Applicant’s dDCO (PDF, 1MB)) and the track change version has been re-labelled accordingly.
The Examination Library has been updated to reflect these changes, along with the Regulation 32 Transboundary Screening document which was published on 5 January 2021 but had not been added to the Examination Library (PDF, 444KB).
The Examining Authority has issued a Notification to confirm the completion of the Examination.
The Deadline 8 submissions have now been published.
The Examining Authority has made the decision to close the Examination of the Little Crow Solar Park project early. The Examination will close on Tuesday 5th October 2021.
Validation Report for the draft DCO (PDF, 290 KB) has been accepted as a Late Deadline 7 Submission from the applicant at the discretion of the Examining Authority.
The following documents have been published:
The Examining Authority has decided that the hearings scheduled to be held on 9 and 10 September 2021 will not be taking place.
The Examining Authority’s Rules 8(3), 9 and 16 Notification of decision in relation to Site Inspection and variation of timetable for the Examination (PDF, 165KB) has been published.
The Deadline 5 submissions have now been published.
The recordings and transcripts for Open Floor Hearing 1 and Issue Specific Hearing 2 have been published.
Action points arising from Issue Specific Hearing 2 (PDF, 113KB) have been published.
The Examination Library (PDF, 378) has been updated.
The livestream link for Issue Specific Hearing 2 – Day 2 being held on Wednesday 30 June 2021 is now available for those who wish to observe the Hearing in real time.
Please note that the Issue Specific Hearing 2 will start broadcasting LIVE once the Hearings commence at 10.00am. If the Livestream does not work initially work, it may be resolved by refreshing the page.
The livestream link for Open Floor Hearing 1 and Issue Specific Hearing 2 being held on Tuesday 29 June 2021 is now available for those who wish to observe the Hearing in real time.
Please note that the Open Floor Hearing and Issue Specific Hearing 2 will start broadcasting LIVE once the Hearings commence at 10.00am. If the Livestream does not work initially work, it may be resolved by refreshing the page.
The Hearing agenda for Issue Specific Hearing 2 has now been published
The Examination Library has been updated
The Examining Authority’s Further Written Questions (ExQ2) (PDF, 238KB) have been published.
The Examining Authority has issued a letter containing:
- Notification of Procedural Decisions under Rule 9.
- Notification of Hearings that will be held during the week commencing 28 June 2021, under Rule 13.
- Requests for further information under Rule 17.
The Examining Authority has issued a Rule 8 (3) (PDF, 205kb) change to the Examination Timetable and Rule 17 request for further information.
The Examination Timetable (Rule 8 letter) has been sent to Interested Parties
Procedural decision following Preliminary Meeting
The Examining Authority’s First Written Questions (PDF, 238kb) have also been published.
The Examination Timetable (Rule 8 letter) has been sent to Interested Parties
Procedural decision following Preliminary Meeting
The recordings and transcripts from the Preliminary Meeting Tuesday 20 April 2021 and Issue Specific Hearing 1 Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 April have now been published.
The Preliminary Meeting Note and Action Points from Issue Specific Hearing 1 have also been published.
For parties wishing to observe the Preliminary Meeting and/or Issue Specific Hearing on Tuesday 20th (and Wednesday 21st if required) April 2021, here is the link to the livestream (which will remain the same for all Hearings relating to this project)
The Procedural Deadline A Documents have now been published.
The Examining Authority has issued a Procedural Decision with respect to the documents submitted by the Applicant for the above deadline.
The Issue Specific Hearing 1 Agenda has also been published.
A note of the ExA’s Unaccompanied Site Inspection on Tuesday 6 April 2021 has been published.
A revised version of the Rule 6 letter has been published today which includes the following changes:
The deletion from the draft Examination Timetable at Annex D of the Open Floor Hearing (OFH) which was scheduled to be held on Tuesday 20 April 2021
The deletion from Deadline A of the deadline for Interested Parties to confirm their attendance at the OFH, that was scheduled to be held on 20 April
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.
The following documents have been published as Additional Submissions accepted by the Examining Authority:
INRG Solar: The Applicant’s Response to S51 Advice issued 23 December 2020 (PDF, 772 KB)
INRG Solar: Updated application Index (Revision A dated 11 January 2021) (PDF, 534 KB)
INRG Solar: Updated Book of Reference (Revision A dated 11 January 2021) (PDF, 4 MB)
INRG Solar: Updated Transport Statement (table 2.1 of appendix C updated as per s55 comments) (PDF, 8 MB)
This application was received by the Planning Inspectorate on 4 December 2020.
The application documents will be made available if the application is accepted for examination.
It is for the Applicant to decide whether or not application documents can be published upon submission (see government’s Planning Act 2008: guidance on the Pre-application process).
