NSIP Update As First Year Target Is Reached

Today's entry is an update on applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects.

On Friday, the 35th application was made for a project under the Planning Act 2008 infrastructure planning and consenting regime.  The number may seem inauspicious but it is actually somewhat significant, as it was the then Infrastructure Planning Commission's estimate of the number of applications it would receive in its first year of operation (based on developers' estimates, mind).

In fact, then, it has taken three years and three and a half months to reach that total, making an application frequency of just under one a month over that time.  Here is a chart of applications by year (where the year starts on 1 March).  It is encouraging that the pace is definitely quickening.

Project update

So, what stages are these 35 applications at?  In fact they are for 33 projects, because two applications were made twice.  In reverse order of progression, we have the following.

Decided applications

Eight applications have received consent, but three of them have subsequently been challenged in the courts, see this blog post for more details.  Of the other five, four are clear of potential legal challenges (two rail chords near Ipswich and Doncaster, the Kentish Flats offshore wind farm extension and the Brechfa Forest West onshore wind farm) and one received consent less than six weeks ago (the Galloper offshore wind farm off the east coast).

Decision stage

Behind them, four have been the subject of a recommendation from the inspector(s) who examined the applications (not yet published) and are awaiting a decision.

Of note is the Able Marine Energy Park on Humberside, whose decision deadline has been extended by two months due to an issue relating to the lease of Crown land.  That means that so far one examination deadline has been extended (Brig y Cwm), one recommendation deadline (Kentish Flats) and one decision deadline (Able).  The other three at this decision stage are the Triton Knoll windfarm, the East Northamptonshire Resource Management Facility and the Blyth biomass project in Northumberland.

Recommendation stage

Next up, two have finished their examinations and are awaiting a recommendation from the examining inspector, the M1 junction 10a improvement near Luton and the Redditch rail chord in Worcestershire.  Most examinations are taking pretty close to the full six months allowed, although the Ipswich and Redditch chords took about 5-6 weeks less.

Examination stage

Three more are in the throes of their six-month examination - the King's Lynn electric line in Norfolk, the Stafford rail chord and the North London electric line.

Pre-examination

Five have finished their representation periods and are gearing up for a preliminary meeting: the East Anglia One offshore windfarm, the DIRFT III rail freight interchange, the Rampion offshore windfarm off the south coast, the Thames Tideway Tunnel in London and the Clocaenog Forest onshore windfarm in Denbighshire.

The Thames Tideway Tunnel received 1246 representations, pipping Hinkley Point C's mere 1197, and putting it in second place a long way behind the record 9859 that Brig y Cwm got.

Representation stage

Three have representation periods running: the North Killingholme power station on Humberside, the Burbo Bank offshore windfarm extension off the Mersey coast and the A556 improvement project south of Manchester.  One more has been accepted and will start its representation period shortly: the Woodside Link highway in Bedfordshire.

So far all 32 applications that reached an acceptance decision have been accepted (in 30 cases) or rejected within the 28 days allowed, which is an impressive statistic considering the amount of documentation involved.

Acceptance stage

Finally, two are awaiting a decision on acceptance: the South Hook combined heat and power station in south-west Wales and the Atlantic Array offshore windfarm in the Severn estuary respectively.

That adds up to 28 projects.  The remaining five have not proceeded for one reason or another.  The Preesall gas storage project in Lancashire was refused consent and that is under challenge. Three more were withdrawn by their developers: the Brig y Cwm energy from waste project near Merthyr Tydfil, the Roosecote biomass plant in Cumbria and the Fieldes Lock power station in Hertfordshire.  The final project, the Maesgwyn power line near Neath and the first application to be made, was not accepted for examination.

Inspector stats

The Planning Inspectorate (PINS) - and the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) before it - has made 51 appointments of examining inspectors on 24 applications, so the average is pretty close to two.  Like the average number of legs for humans being about 1.9998, no application actually has two inspectors on it, the Planning Act does not allow it - they all have 1, 3, 4 or 5.

In terms of number of inspectors per application, 13 have had a single inspector appointed, eight have had three, one has had four (the East Anglia One windfarm) and two have had five (the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station and the Thames Tideway Tunnel).

In terms of inspector appointments, there have been quite a lot of repeats - demonstrating that PINS values experience of the Planning Act regime. 30 different people make up the 51 appointments - here is a table of how many applications each has clocked up.  I have also indicated whether they were originally commissioners of the IPC.

Law firm stats

Finally, I thought you might be interested in seeing a league table of how many applications each law firm is acting (or has acted) for the promoter on (and you may detect a teeny bit of self-interest as well).  This is based on personal knowledge and project documentation, so I think it is fairly accurate.  I'm not that mean, though, I have left all but one firm's names out.

I have arbitrarily decided that acting on an application that received consent is worth three points, one that is in progress is worth one, and one that was rejected (at the beginning), withdrawn (in the middle) or refused (at the end) is worth 0.

Unlike the IOC's treatment of West and East Germany, I have combined the totals for any firms that may have recently merged.

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