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If you wish to attend and/or participate in the above Preliminary Meeting or Hearing, you must register by completing the Planning Inspectorate’s Event Participation Form on the Planning Inspectorate’s project webpage by 20 January 2025. The physical venue referred to above will also be open to the public. Please contact the Planning Inspectorate using the contact details at the bottom of this notice if you require any support or assistance to attend the Hearing, either virtually or in person.
If you simply wish to observe the Preliminary Meeting or Open Floor Hearing then you do not need to register as you will be able to either:
- watch a livestream of the event - a link to the livestream will be made available on the project webpage shortly before the event is scheduled to begin; and/or
- watch the recording of the event which will be published on the project webpage shortly after the event has finished.
Virtual Registration — All virtual participants will be required to take part in a registration process before the Hearing. This will be held with the Planning Inspectorate before the start of the Hearing. This gives time for the Planning Inspectorate to admit everyone to the Hearing.
Cancellation Of Hearing — If the Hearing is no longer required, reasonable notice will be provided of the Planning Inspectorate’s decision to cancel it by the posting of a banner on the Planning Inspectorate’s project webpage for the Scheme.
Any Hearings further to that listed will be advertised by one or more further notices. In accordance with Rule 13(3) of the Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010, as amended, the Planning Inspectorate will also notify interested parties (and where relevant, affected persons) of the date, time and place fixed for each hearing.
For more information on the Hearing, the examination of the Application and full timetable (and any amendments to it), including how and when to register to speak at the Hearing and how and when to make written submissions, please contact the Planning Inspectorate using the details at the bottom of this notice, or visit its website where procedural decisions and notice of hearings, including the Examining Authority’s Rule 6 letter dated 10 December 2024 are available to download:
https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/EN010119
It should be noted that the Hearing will be recorded, and the recording will be published on the Planning Inspectorate’s project webpage for the Project as soon as practicable after the hearing has taken place.
Summary of the Application
North Falls Offshore Wind Farm (the ‘Project’ or ‘North Falls’) will comprise an offshore generating station with a capacity exceeding 100 megawatts (MW). The Project is therefore classified as a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) under sections 14(1)(a) and 15(3) of the Act and requires development consent in accordance with section 31 of the Act. It is for this reason that the Application falls within the remit of the Secretary of State’s decision-making powers.
North Falls is an offshore wind farm located in the outer Thames Estuary. The DCO Application is for the construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of an offshore wind farm proposed approximately 40km off the East Anglia coast in the southern North Sea. The Project comprises: a single offshore array area covering an area of 95 square kilometres with up to 57 wind turbine generators, the installation of underground cables and associated infrastructure; construction of up to two offshore substation platforms, or, up to one offshore substation platform and up to one offshore converter platform; the construction of up to two cable circuits and associated ducting with the onshore landfall taking place at between Clacton-on-Sea and Frinton-on-Sea; the construction of an electrical substation between Little Bromley and Ardleigh to connect to National Grid’s proposed East Anglia Connection Node (EACN) substation; and all associated development and ancillary works. The Application provides for three options for the transmission of the electricity generated by the wind farm as follows:
- Option 1: Onshore electrical connection at a National Grid connection point within the Tendring peninsula of Essex, with a project alone onshore cable route and onshore substation infrastructure;
- Option 2: Onshore electrical connection at a National Grid connection point within the Tendring peninsula of Essex, sharing an onshore cable route and onshore cable duct installation (but with separate onshore export cables) and co-locating separate Project onshore substation infrastructure with Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm; or
- Option 3: Offshore electrical connection, supplied by a third-party.
The onshore infrastructure works required under Options 1 and 2 above would be within the administrative area of Essex County Council and Tendring District Council.
The DCO, if granted, would enable the acquisition of land, new rights over land and the imposition of restrictions that are required to construct, operate and maintain the Project. In addition, it contains powers for the possession and use of land on a temporary basis to facilitate the construction and maintenance of the Project. The DCO would also authorise alterations to the layout of streets, the construction of accesses to the Project, the temporary stopping up of public rights of way, street works, removal of hedgerows and the application and modification of legislation.
Maps showing the onshore and offshore locations of the Project that form part of the Application are titled Location Plan (Onshore) [APP-196] and the Location Plan (Offshore) [APP-197] both of which can be viewed on the Planning Inspectorate’s website under the documents tab:
https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/EN010119/documents
Copy of the application form and accompanying documents
The application form, and all accompanying documents (including the Environmental Statement, Non-Technical Summary of the Environmental Statement, a Guide to the Application and draft DCO), can be viewed electronically and downloaded free of charge on the Planning Inspectorate’s website under the documents tab (at the link above).
The Application documents will be available online on the Planning Inspectorate’s website for the duration of the pre-examination and examination stage and will also be accessible online in the locations set out below. The locations listed below have public internet access, through which the Application documents can be accessed on the Planning Inspectorate’s website free of charge. Please check directly with the facilities to confirm their opening hours, as well as any bookings or registrations that might be required to access the documents digitally through the computers available at the respective locations.
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