The Secretary of State has granted development consent for this application. Please refer to the following decision documentation.

Examining Authority’s Report to the Secretary of State

Secretary of State Decision Letter and Statement of Reasons

Secretary of State Final Development Consent Order

The Planning Inspectorate Notification of Decision Letter

The Examining Authority has issued its recommendation to the Secretary of State. A decision will be published on or before 2 August 2013. Please note that the Examining Authority’s recommendation will also be made available at that point.

The solicitors for North Blyth will change name to Bond Dickinson LLP on 1 May. For more information see the correspondence sent to the Planning Inspectorate.

The Examining Authority has issued a letter under section 99 of the Planning Act 2008 (as amended) notifying Interested Parties of the completion of the examination. There will now be a period of 3 months for the Examining Authority to consider and make a recommendation to the Secretary of State.

The following documents have been published:
- The developer’s cover letter for their final submission
- Contents page listing the developer’s final submission
- Version 7.0 of the draft Development Consent Order and Deemed Marine License
- The developer’s closing submission (Post Submission Changes)
- The signed unilateral undertaking between North Blyth Energy Limited, Blyth Harbour Commissioners and Northumberland County council

The following documents have been published:
- The developer’s cover letter relating to version 6.0 of the draft Development Consent order and Deemed Marine License
- Version 6.0 of the draft Development Consent Order plus Deemed marine License
- The Report on revisions to the draft Development Consent Order and Deemed Marine Licence following Specific Issues Hearing 9 January 2013

A set of documents were received following the issue specific hearing held on 9 January. This document lists all that were submitted.

The following documents have been published:
- The developer’s cover letter relating to version 5.0 of the draft Development Consent order and Deemed Marine License
- Version 5.0 of the draft Development Consent order and Deemed Marine License
- The summary of Drafting Changes made to version 5.0 of the draft Development Consent Order and Deemed Marine Licence following Specific Issues Hearing 9 January 2013

A notification has been published regarding an appointment of an Inspector for matters pertaining to section 127 of the Planning Act 2008 (as amended) relating to the Port Blyth Biomass Plant application.

An information request (Rule 17 letter) has been issued to the Environment Agency

The following documents have now been published:
- The developer’s application and appointment letter for a section 127 certificate relating to Network Rail land
- The developer’s application and appointment letter for a section 127 certificate relating to RWE Npower land

A document containing comments on the developer’s transport report following the specific issue hearing has been published.

The developer’s summary of oral statements relating to the specific issue hearings, open floor hearings and compulsory acquisition hearings held between 4-6 December 2012 has been published on the hearing page

Related documents:
Cover letter
Contents page
Email from Environment Agency to developer
Developers responses to comments by others on second round of questions

The agenda for the specific issue hearing on 9 January 2013 has been published.

A Rule 17 letter has been issued requesting comments on the Examining Authority’s Report on the Implications of European Sites.

The certificates of compliance with s.56, s.59 of the Planning Act 2008 and Regulation 13 of the Infrastructure EIA Regulations 2010 have now been published.

Northumberland County Council’s response to the Examination Authority request for further information (issued on 18 December 2012) has been published.

The summaries of the oral statements given at the specific issue hearing on Landscape, Design and Visual Impact at 9am on 4 December 2012 have been published on the hearings page.

The summaries of the oral statements given at the open floor hearing at 2pm on 5 December 2012 have been published on the hearings page.

The Examination authority has requested further information from Northumberland County Council and North Blyth Energy Limited under rule 17 of the Infrastructure Planning (Examination procedure) Rules 2010.

The developer’s latest version of the draft Development Consent Order has been published.
View the covering letter
View the draft Development Consent Order

A letter notifying all Interested Parties about the Specific Issue hearing on 9 January 2012 has been issued.

The examination authority has on 10 December 2012 accepted an additional submission from Tyneside Friends of the Earth.

The audio recordings of the recent Specific Issue and Open Floor hearings have now been published on the hearings page.

A late response from the Environment Agency has been accepted by the Examining Authority and published in Responses to the Examining Authority’s second round of written questions

Responses to the Examining Authority’s second round of written questions have now been published.

The following documents have been published:
- Developer’s third version of the draft Development Consent Order and Deemed Marine License (PDF 369 KB)
- Additions, Omissions and Errors from the original application (PDF 55 KB)

Information and agendas for the upcoming Open Floor, Issue Specific and Compulsory Acquisition Hearings has been published.

The interested parties comments on Northumberland County Council’s response to the Examination Authority’s first round of questions have been published (Further Information Requested by the Examining Authority (Rule 17).

Letters have been issued to all affected persons notifying them of changes to the timetable, hearings and site visit.

Letter informing affected persons of variation to the examination timetable and notification of a Compulsory Acquisition Hearing.

The Examination Authority has issued its Second Round of Questions giving the Interested Parties until 30 November 2012 to respond to the questions.

The Examination authority has issued a Rule 17 letter giving the Interested Parties until 9 November 2012 to comment on Northumberland County Council’s responses to the first round of questions.

The audio recording of the Issue Specific Hearing that took place on 11 October 2012 has now been published. Download it here (large file – 100 MB, MP3)

An agenda for the Issue Specific Hearing taking place on 11 October has now been published.

The Examining Authority has issued a revised timetable with a number of changes.

New date for Specific Issue Hearing regarding the draft Development Consent Order (Rule 13 letter) sent to interested parties

The preliminary meeting will take place on 2 August 2012 at the Civic Centre, Renwick Road, Blyth, Northumberland NE24 2BX. Registration will begin at 09:30am and the meeting is scheduled to start at 10:00am. Interested parties wishing to attend the meeting should contact the case team in the way set out in page 3 of the notice issued on the 5 July.