New areas of seabed for offshore wind farms are set to be unlocked, with 7GW plus of new projects envisaged in English and Welsh waters.

The Crown Estate has issued its invitation to tender for Round 4 leasing of the seabed to offshore wind developers, with the strapline ‘unlocking new areas of seabed for the generation of low-carbon energy for millions more homes by 2030’.

Successful bidders for leases will subsequently negotiate the Planning Act 2008 process for gaining Development Consent Orders (DCOs) for the resulting projects, which will be Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs).

The NSIP process is widely acknowledged as successful in streamlining and adding certainty to the consenting of infrastructure projects in England and Wales, including their territorial waters. A large proportion of the projects that have been through the system have been offshore wind, with most successfully achieving their order.

The NSIP system was novel when it was introduced. It straddles the coast, bringing terrestrial and marine projects within the same scope. Rights to compulsory acquisition are included in DCOs, as is a host of other powers relating to land. For offshore wind farms, always requiring terrestrial infrastructure to bring power ashore, this has been particularly helpful.

Like the offshore wind sector, the NSIP/DCO system has been on a rapid trajectory towards maturity. Much has been learnt about its operation, mainly incorporated in best practice. The understandable early propensity to ‘lawyerise’ the system is now modified with the appreciation that others, notably planners used to handling complex projects requiring Environmental Impact Assessment and invoking the Habitats Regulations Assessment regime, can offer cost effective professional leadership.

Academic review of NSIPs’ journeys through the DCO process* has identified the strong and positive role of Statements of Common Ground (SOCGs) in achieving consensus and narrowing the scope of disagreement. The Royal Town Planning Institute’s strapline ‘Mediation of space – making of place’ is particularly apt for what SoCGs do – they mediate between different spatial interests.

The next round of activity in this fascinating sector on which much of our future prosperity and sustainability will rely is now underway, though already it is clear more – Round 5 perhaps – is needed to deliver the further increased scale of generation the UK’s ‘net zero carbon by 2050’ target requires.

Just as there has been evolution in virtually all aspects of the technology, the same is true in consenting. We look forward to working with our partner organisations in providing consenting management and advice that reflects the enormous technological leaps forward we have seen in this most vital of sectors.

* UCL's Evidence, Publics and Decision-Making for Major Wind Infrastructure 2017

Further information

Contact Savills Energy