- Date released
- 19 February 2020
- Request number
- 202001059
- Release of information under
- Freedom of Information Act 2000
Information requested
I am writing to ask for confirmation of effective consultation with Scottish Power regarding nuclear emergency planning during consultation phases for proposed wind farm projects EA1N & EA2.
It is understood from submissions on the PINs website that Suffolk County Councils Emergency Planner has queried whether ONR has been consulted with for these projects. I have tried to find documents to confirm due diligence and correspondence with the ONR via the applications supporting submissions on the Planning Inspectorate website but there are no records.
Please can you confirm ONR was involved in and effectively consulted with for both EA1N & EA2?
Please can you forward copies of correspondence with the developer regarding EA1N & EA2 proposals.
Information released
In relation to the East Anglia TWO (EA2) and East Anglia ONE North (EA1N) offshore wind farm projects, and specifically effective consultation with ONR, I can confirm the following:
- On 9 November 2017, ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) issued a scoping request to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) under Regulation 10 of the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 for the proposed projects.
- On 10 November 2017 the Planning Inspectorate consulted on the Applicant’s Scoping Reports with ONR and received a response on 17 November 2017 which were taken into account in the Scoping Opinions.
- ONR’s responses can be viewed on:
- On 28 January 2019, SPR invited ONR to comment on both projects under Section 42 of the Planning Act 2008 and the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017. This consultation involved the provision of the project’s preliminary environmental information on USB memory sticks for each project; a hard copy of the project’s Non-Technical Summary and a hard copy of the notice published under Section 48 of the Planning Act 2008. On this occasion ONR did not provide a comment in response to this request. However, we were confident that our views on these developments had already been made known to SPR.
- On 3 December 2019, SPR wrote to ONR advising that the PINS had accepted the DCO applications for both projects for examination. This communication included details about the proposed projects in the form of a notice of the accepted application under Section 56 of the Planning Act 2008; USBs containing a copy of the Application documents including the Environmental Statement (ES) and other supporting documentation; hard copies of maps showing the location of the proposed development both offshore (Figure 1 extracted from the Non-Technical Summary) and onshore (Figure 2 extracted from the Non-Technical Summary); and a hard copy of the Non-Technical Summary.
- Electronic copies of the documents can be found on the National Infrastructure Planning website as detailed below:
ONR subsequently registered as an Interested Party on the PINS website for both projects and will provide consultation responses during the DCO examination phase when invited to do so by PINS.
Please see the attached two email exchanges dated 10 December 2019. Some information has been redacted because it contains personal data. The personal data has been withheld using the exemption section 40 (Personal information) of the FOIA. The exemption allows public authorities to protect personal information. This is an absolute exemption so does not require a Public Interest Test. Please refer to the Information Commissioner’s Office website for full details.
Exemptions applied
Section 40
PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable
N/A