Energy secretary Ed Miliband has extended the deadline for making a decision on whether to grant development consent orders for RWE, Masdar’s 3GW Dogger Bank South and SSE, RWE’s 1GW North Falls wind farms off east England by around two weeks.
The statutory deadline for final determinations on the respective arrays was 28 and 30 April. However, Miliband has set a new deadline of 14 May to avoid publishing any decisions in the run-up to local elections being held across England on 7 May.
Energy minister Martin McCluskey told parliament today (26 March): “Having consulted the relevant guidance and under advice from officials I have agreed to set a new deadline of no later than 14 May for deciding these applications.
“This is because the current statutory dates for these cases are within the pre-election period for local elections in England. This period commences on 16 April, and the guidance advises that particular care should be taken where there is a specific local or geographical dimension to an announcement.”
The new deadline will also apply to a third determination that was due on 29 April for a DCO application concerning a joint transmission system for CIP’s 480MW Morecambe and the 1.5GW Morgan arrays in the Irish Sea.