Environment Transport and Planning in UK Law

4.50 The Secretary of State has considered the ExA's view [ER 7.5.7] that, even if the Proposed Development and the water supply are considered to be two separate projects, the cumulative effects associated with it should be assessed at this stage.

4.59 The Secretary of State notes that in light of the matters identified above it is not possible for the Applicant to provide more specific details regarding the route or specification of the pipeline, or other connection, that will provide the Proposed Development with a connection to the water main or water supply at this stage, and notes that such a pipeline or alternative connection does not form part of the Application.

4.60 The policy set out in NPS EN-1 is clear that a decision-maker should work on the assumption that relevant environmental regulatory regimes, including the abstraction licencing regime regulating activities that take water from the water environment, will be properly applied and enforced by the relevant regulator, and that a decision-maker should not seek to duplicate these regimes.

4.61 The Secretary of State notes the concerns raised by IPs regarding the prospect of a permanent desalination plant. The Secretary of State agrees with the Applicant that further detailed assessment of the impacts associated with a permanent desalination plant would be required if the Applicant were ultimately to pursue this option as part of its water supply strategy which is not the current intention.

4.65 In relation to the Habitats Regulations, the Secretary of State does not agree with Natural England that the source of any permanent water supply is, in itself, integral to the application. There will need to be a permanent water supply solution and the Secretary of State is satisfied that such a solution can be found before the first reactor is commissioned. However, the Secretary of State does not consider that the source of that supply is an integral part of this application.

On a fair reading of the OR, the Planning Officer did place substantial weight on the contingent benefits that, in his assessment, would accrue from the development in Phase 1, and he invited the Committee to do the same. His overall approach was to invite the Committee to attribute substantial or significant weight to the prospective benefits of the wider development whilst directing them that they must leave out of account entirely any possible harms.

The identity of the “project” for these purposes is not necessarily circumscribed by the ambit of the specific application for planning permission which is under consideration.