Planning and consultation process

The Development Consent Order process

As a major infrastructure development, CQLCP is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). An NSIP is a major proposal considered by the UK Government to be of such importance that the permission to build and operate it needs to be confirmed at national level by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Uniper will seek to obtain planning consent for the project by submitting a Development Consent Order (DCO) to the Planning Inspectorate. Engagement with national and local stakeholders, including the public, is an important element of the DCO consenting process and as part of our application, we will seek feedback from all our key stakeholders. The planning application will be accompanied by an Environmental Statement that will set out the results of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the construction, operation and decommissioning phases of the project.

The Development Consent Order consenting timeline

How we will use your feedback and next steps

We will consider all comments received during the consultation, as well as from our ongoing engagement with communities and stakeholders. The views expressed by all stakeholders, along with the outcomes of environmental assessments and technical studies, will be carefully considered and where possible, will inform our plans for the project.

Following the close of this round of consultation, a Consultation Report will be produced as part of our DCO application, which will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. This document will set out how the feedback from the consultation has shaped and influenced the final proposals.

All responses submitted during our Non-Statutory and Statutory Consultation will be answered within the Consultation Report and included within the document with all personal details redacted.

After the application has been submitted, the Planning Inspectorate may ask Uniper to provide a copy of any, or all, of the statutory consultation responses received. We will take reasonable care to comply with the requirements of all applicable data protection legislation and the Planning Inspectorate’s Privacy Policy https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/planning-inspectorate-privacy-notices.