Public Notice (TEESIDE): Notice of proposed application for a development consent order for the Net Zero Teesside Project

NET ZERO TEESSIDE

THE PLANNING ACT 2008 – SECTION 48 ‘DUTY TO PUBLICISE’

The Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2008 – Regulation 4

The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 – Regulation 13

Notice of proposed application for a development consent order for the Net Zero Teesside Project

1. Notice is hereby given that Net Zero Teesside Power Limited and Net Zero North Sea Storage Limited (the ‘Applicants’), whose registered offices are both Chertsey Road, Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex TW16 7BP, are proposing to submit an application (the ‘Proposed Application’) to the Secretary of State (the ‘SoS’) for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for a Development Consent Order (‘DCO’) under Section 37 ‘Applications for orders granting development consent’ of the Planning Act 2008 (the ‘PA 2008’), to authorise the construction, operation and maintenance of the Net Zero Teesside Project (‘NZT’ or the ‘Project’).

The Project

2. The site for NZT (the ‘Project Site’) comprises of land at and in the vicinity of the former SSI steelworks site in Redcar and in Stockton-on-Tees on Teesside. The Project Site extends to 1,482 hectares in total. Grid references for the Project Site and its extremities are provided in the table below:

Plans are available within the ‘Consultation Documents’ (see further below) showing the current Project Site boundary.

3. NZT would be the UK’s first commercial scale, full chain carbon capture, utilisation and storage project. The Proposed Application would, amongst other matters, seek a DCO for the construction, operation and maintenance of:

3.1 a combined cycle gas turbine electricity generating station with an abated capacity of up to 2.1 gigawatts output (gross), including post-combustion carbon capture plant (all at the former SSI steelworks site in Redcar); cooling water, gas and electricity grid connections in and around Teesside; a carbon dioxide (CO2) gathering network, including CO2 pipeline connections from industrial facilities on Teesside to transport the captured CO2 (including the connections under the tidal River Tees); a CO2 gathering and compression station to receive the captured CO2 from the gathering network and generating station (also at the former SSI steelworks site); and the first part (the landward side of Mean Low Water Mark) of a CO2 transport/export pipeline for the onward transport of the captured CO2 (the remainder of the transport pipeline and the offshore geological storage site beneath the North Sea are to be separately consented); and

3.2 other associated development, including external lighting; fencing and boundary treatment; security measures; surface and foul water drainage systems; water, electricity, gas and other utilities connections; hard and soft landscaping; biodiversity mitigation and enhancement measures; temporary contractor facilities and construction laydown areas; vehicle access roads, crossings, parking and pedestrian and cycle facilities and routes.

4. The DCO to be sought would also authorise, if required, the permanent and/or temporary compulsory acquisition of land and/or rights in land for the Project; the extinguishment and/or overriding of easements and other rights over or affecting land required for the Project; and/or the temporary occupation of land required for the Project; the application and/or disapplication of legislation relevant to the Project as may be required; permanent and temporary changes to the highway and public rights of way network as may be required; tree and hedgerow removal; a deemed marine licence for those parts of the Project within or affecting the tidal section of the River Tees or other sections of the UK Marine Area; the construction, operation and maintenance of associated development, including, but not limited to those items listed in paragraph 3; and such ancillary, incidental and consequential works, provisions, permits, consents, waivers or releases as are necessary and/or convenient for the successful construction, operation and maintenance of the Project.

Environmental Impact Assessment

5. The Applicants have notified the SoS in writing under Regulation 8(1)(b) of The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (the ‘EIA Regulations’) that they intend to provide an Environmental Statement (‘ES’) in respect of the Project. The Project is therefore ‘EIA development’ for the purposes of the EIA Regulations and an ES will form part of the Proposed Application.
6. Information so far compiled about the Project’s environmental impacts is contained in a Preliminary Environmental Information (‘PEI’) Report and summarised in a Non-Technical Summary.

Consultation Documents

7. The PEI Report and other documents relating to the Project, including plans and maps showing the nature and location of the Project (the ‘Consultation Documents’), are available to download and view free of charge from the Project Website: https://www.netzeroteesside.co.uk/consultation/ until 18 September 2020.
8. If you are unable to access the Project Website, please telephone: Freephone 0800 211 8185 (Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm) or email: consultation@netzeroteesside.co.uk. Any details you provide to us via telephone or email will be subject to our Privacy Notice: https://www.netzeroteesside.co.uk/consultation-privacy-notice/. You will be offered the loan of a hard copy set of the Consultation Documents, the loan of an electronic tablet that the Consultation Documents have been uploaded to, or a USB stick containing the Consultation Documents. Hard copies of the Consultation Documents and the electronic tablets will be delivered free of charge and collected on a date and time that is convenient. USB sticks will be supplied and posted to you free of charge.
9. Regulation 4(3)(e) of The Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedures) Regulations 2009, requires an applicant for a DCO to make the consultation documents available for inspection in at least one address in the vicinity of the relevant project. Details of a location where the Consultation Documents can be inspected free of charge are set out below. However, given the current Covid-19 pandemic (‘coronavirus’), and the Government’s guidance, and in the interests of health and safety, we strongly encourage you to use the alternative methods of viewing the Consultation Documents, as described above. Inspection of the Consultation Documents at the address below will be by appointment only and will require up to 48 hours’ prior notice. It is very important that you do not visit without an appointment. You will be asked to complete a Covid-19 Visitor Declaration prior to your visit. Appointments can be arranged by telephone: 020 7489 4830 or email: consultation@netzeroteesside.co.uk. Visiting arrangements will be explained to you prior to your visit. Visiting arrangements and opening times may be subject to change by the Applicants or operators of the inspection location.

Inspection Location

10. It is important that you observe all the latest government guidance and laws in force if planning a visit. Under current NHS guidance, you should not visit an Inspection Location if you are at high risk or very high risk from coronavirus (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/people-at-higher-risk-from-coronavirus/whos-at-higher-risk-from-coronavirus/). Do not visit the inspection location if you are unwell, have symptoms of coronavirus, or have recently been in contact with someone with coronavirus.

Responding to this notice11. If you wish to respond to this notice or make comments or representations in respect of the Project, these should be sent to the Applicants. Please include your name and an address where any correspondence relating to the Project can be sent. Comments and representations may be submitted in the following ways:

Email: consultation@netzeroteesside.co.uk

Post: Freepost NET ZERO TEESSIDE PROJECT CONSULTATION

Telephone: Freephone 0800 211 8185 – lines will be open 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday

Website: https://www.netzeroteesside.co.uk/consultation/

12. Any comments received will be analysed by the Applicants and any appointed agent of the Applicants, and copies may be made available in due course to the SoS, the Planning Inspectorate and other relevant statutory authorities so that your comments can be noted. For certain parties, those who own an interest in land or are affected by the Project, the Applicant is under a statutory duty to publish names and addresses as part of its DCO application. In respect of other people we will request that your personal details are not placed on public record and these will be held securely by the Applicants in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation and used solely in connection with the consultation process and subsequent DCO application and, except as noted above, will not be passed to third parties. Please refer to our Privacy Notice: https://www.netzeroteesside.co.uk/consultation-privacy-notice/.
13. Please note that all comments and representations must be received by the Applicants no later than 11.59pm on 18 September 2020.
14. If you would like any further information in respect of this notice or the Project, please contact the Applicants using one of the contact methods set out above.

Net Zero Teesside Power Limited & Net Zero North Sea Storage Limited

16 July 2020