Ten nuclear sites named as first NPSs are published

The Government has announced 10 sites which have been assessed as potentially suitable for new nuclear power stations.

The locations were highlighted as ministers published the first set of draft National Policy Statements (NPSs). These will provide the context for decisions on energy infrastructure and ports determined by the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) under the new planning regime. 

The new arrangements are designed to speed up the consideration of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) such as power stations, reservoirs, motorways, ports and airports.

The 10 approved nuclear sites, either existing nuclear power station locations, or at or close to the Sellafield nuclear complex, are: 

• Bradwell
• Braystones
• Hartlepool
• Heysham
• Hinkley Point
• Kirksanton
• Oldbury
• Sellafield
• Sizewell
• Wylfa

Dungeness was nominated but has not been listed as ministers did not consider that potential environmental impacts at this site could be mitigated. The administration also had concerns about coastal erosion and associated flood risk at that nominated site.

Three other sites for new nuclear stations were considered to meet the requirements of alternative sites under the provisions of the Habitat Directive. These locations were Druridge Bay in Northumberland, Kingsnorth in Kent and Owston Ferry in South Yorkshire. None of these, though, proved suitable.

The NPSs now published and out for consultation until February next year comprise one overarching energy policy document and one for each of the following areas: fossil fuels, nuclear, renewable, transmission networks and oil and gas pipelines. There is also a draft NPS for ports although the Government has made it clear it does not expect any major project proposals initially because there has been a clutch of new schemes recently.

The energy NPSs set out the national need for a low-carbon secure energy mix and spell out that this will mean significantly more generating capacity. The Government has stressed that this will mean significantly more onshore and offshore wind, new nuclear and new coal-fired power stations fitted with carbon capture and storage.

Energy secretary Ed Miliband said: "The threat of climate change means we need to make a transition from a system that relies heavily on high-carbon fossil fuels, to a radically different system that includes nuclear, renewable and clean coal power. 

"Change is also needed for energy security. In a world where our North Sea reserves are declining, a more diverse low-carbon energy mix is a more secure energy mix, less vulnerable to fluctuations in the availability of any one fuel. 

"The current planning system is a barrier to this shift. It serves neither the interests of energy security, the interests of the low-carbon transition, nor the interests of people living in areas where infrastructure may be built, for the planning process to take years to come to a decision.” 

Planning minister John Healey said: "The course of our country's future will be set by investments in new energy sources, water supplies, ports, railways and other transport networks. The National Policy Statements do what they say on the tin – they are Britain's policy blueprints within which the IPC will run a faster and fairer planning system, with fuller public scrutiny of larger developments. 

"Instead of major projects going through three, four, five separate applications, sometimes sequentially, there is now one single consent system, with one full expert and public examination. This includes new steps that require open public consultation before applications can even be submitted."

The NPSs make it clear that the IPC may “exceptionally” grant consent to development in national parks, the Broads and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty if the development can be demonstrated “to be in the public interest” thanks to “national considerations”.

Steve Quartermain, the chief planner at Communities and Local Government, has written to all chief planning officers explaining how the new regime and the NPSs will interact with the existing town and country planning regime. The policy set out in the NPSs will be a material consideration when schemes which are not NSIPs are involved. 

In a nutshell: The IPC and NPSs

Letter to Chief Planning Officers: National Policy Statements (PDF)

Consultation on draft National Policy Statement for Energy Infrastructure 

Consultation on the draft National Policy Statement for Ports