Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 745W and 13 January 2014, Official Report, column 342W, on wind power: planning permission, what recent assessment he has made of whether the average time taken from submission of a planning application to full generation for offshore wind is reasonable; and whether he has recently discussed this matter with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Michael Fallon

Since the introduction of the new Planning Act 2008 regime in March 2010 in England and Wales (planning is devolved in Scotland), there is now a statutory maximum timescale of 12 months for the examination, report writing and decision making phases of applications for the development consent of nationally significant infrastructure projects (including offshore wind farms over 100MW). My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made decisions on three offshore wind farms under that regime, all within the statutory deadlines.

The time taken to construct the offshore wind farm following consent is a matter for the developer.