The government approved the National Policy Statements (NPS) for Energy un-amended on 18 July 2011, and following this, on 19th July 2011, the NPS’s were designated by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change under the Planning Act 2008. The NPS’s are as follows:
EN-1 Overarching Energy NPS
EN-2 Fossil Fuel Electricity Generating Infrastructure
EN-3 Renewable Energy Infrastructure
EN-4 Gas Supply Infrastructure & Gas and Oil Pipelines
EN-5 Electricity Networks Infrastructure
EN-6 Nuclear Power Generation Volumes 1 & 2
These may be found via the link to the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), listed under ‘Other websites’ on the right hand side of this page.
The energy NPSs set out national policy against which proposals for major energy projects will be assessed and decided on by the Infrastructure Planning Commission. In future, if the changes to the Planning Act 2008 set out in the Localism Bill are enacted, they will also be the primary documents for the new Major Infrastructure Planning Unit (within the Planning Inspectorate) to use in its examination of applications for development consent, and for Ministers when making decisions.
Of particular relevance to South Gloucestershire, EN-6 has confirmed the Government’s listing of the site adjacent to the existing Oldbury Nuclear Power Station as a potential site for a new build nuclear power station.
At the time of publication of the NPS’s, other background documents were also issued, including the Government’s response to consultation and to Parliament, and an Impact Assessment. Following designation a finalised Post Adoption Statement has also been published. This explains how environmental considerations have been integrated into the NPSs; how the Appraisals of Sustainability (AoS), the views of statutory consultees and others have been taken into account in preparing them; as well as providing information on why the particular options are selected - rather than any of the reasonable alternatives to them set out in the AoSs. These documents may also be found on the DECC web site.
Full details of the Parliamentary debate can be found at columns 678 to 718 (Pages 44 to 65) of the House of Commons Official Report for Monday 18 July 2011. This can be accessed via the link to the parliamentary publications website, listed under ‘Other websites’ on the right hand side of this page.