Agenda item

The Committee heard from the Assistant Director of Planning and Regeneration regarding the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) across the district. She noted that, during the September meeting of this Committee, she provided a brief update regarding the potential for a further decision to be required as a result of two Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) proposals for the development of large scale solar farms within West Lindsey. It was explained that, since then, a third NSIP proposal had been brought forward within the district. Additionally, in the time since the papers had been published eight days prior to the meeting, each of the proposals had been registered with the Planning Inspectorate and the pre-application process had officially commenced.

The paper for consideration by the Committee set out an early resourcing position to support the council in the management of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects through the Development Consent Order process. The three NSIPS all proposed large scale solar farm development. The scale of the proposal was measured in megawatts, with anything above 50 megawatts classed as an NSIP. All three proposals were significantly above this 50 megawatt scale, meaning they sat outside of the realms of the Town and Country Planning Act.

The Assistant Director of Planning and Regeneration explained that NSIPs were considered by the Planning Inspectorate for ultimate decision by the relevant Secretary of State, in this case it would be the SOS for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. West Lindsey District Council would perform the role of ‘Host Authority’ in the Development Consent Order Process. The role of Host Authority was clearly set out within the Planning Act and at their meeting on 2 November 2021, the Prosperous Communities Committee had approved the decision making and delegation protocol that would be used to manage this process.

It was further explained that, as the Development Consent Orders were considered directly by the Planning Inspectorate, the Local Planning Authority did not receive a planning fee. It was recognised, however, that resources were needed by the Council to support the process. The mechanism for securing such resource was a Planning Performance Agreement (PPA). Each developer had committed to preparing a PPA with WLDC and this process had begun.

The Committee heard that the host authority was required to work on a number of complex elements including responding to impact assessment, assessing adequacy of community consultations, preparing the PPA and S106  amongst other tasks. It was envisaged that dedicated officer resource would be required. In addition, external technical specialists across a range of disciples would be required. This would ensure that every element of impact from the proposals would be understood. A working group of officers from across Central Lincolnshire, together with Bassetlaw and Boston, had been established to work together on securing the technical specialities that would be required.

Due to the scale and nature of the proposals, it was recognised that it could take some time to agree the details of the Planning Performance Agreements. However, work on each of the proposals had begun and it was necessary to move quickly to secure the officer and technical support that would be needed. To this end, the proposal within the paper before the Committee was to seek approval for the use of up to £50,000 as a bridging resource, to allow the work to commence. It was expected that any costs would be reclaimed through the PPA process, which would of course be progressed at speed. As highlighted within the financial implications, there was always a risk that the developer walked away prior to signing the PPA, however it was felt this was unlikely in the case of the proposals in question, given they had already progressed to a pre application stage. As a final comment, the Assistant Director confirmed that any resource utilised would be reviewed through the budget monitoring process.

The Assistant Director was thanked by the Chairman of the Prosperous Communities Committee for a well presented report and he noted the importance of starting work as soon as possible, as recognised by his Committee on 2 November. He accepted that there would likely be competition for the specialist resources required and it was in the best interests of those communities who could potentially be impacted to ensure the Council was fully engaged from the outset. With this said, he moved the recommendations contained within the report.

It was noted that the receipt of three applications in such a short time scale was considered to be unprecedented and it was confirmed that the District Council had not acted in the Host Authority status and the scale of these NSIPs was much greater than anything seen previously.

Members of the Committee voiced disappointment that any final decision would be taken outside of the District, however in understanding the processes involved there was widespread support for Officers to be able to act as quickly as possible. Having been seconded and voted upon it was unanimously

RESOLVED that the allocation and spend of up to £50,000 from the General Fund Balance, to deliver the necessary resourcing requirements of the current Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects as a bridging resource whilst Planning Performance Agreements are signed to resource the Development Consent Order process, be approved.