Energy Infrastructure Planning Projects

Amanda Solloway Excerpts

Tuesday 19th September 2023 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Amanda Solloway)]

My noble friend the Under-Secretary of State, Lord Callanan, has today made the following statement:

This statement concerns an application for development consent made under the Planning Act 2008 by Sunnica Energy Farm for the construction and operation of a solar photovoltaic energy generation farm, situated across west Suffolk and east Cambridgeshire.

Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State must make a decision on an application within three months of the receipt of the examining authority’s report unless exercising the power under section 107(3) of the Act to set a new deadline. Where a new deadline is set, the Secretary of State must make a statement to Parliament to announce it. The current statutory deadline for the decision on the Sunnica Energy Farm application is 28 September 2023.

I have decided to set a new deadline of no later than 7 December 2023 for deciding this application.

The decision to set the new deadline for this application is without prejudice to the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent.

[HCWS1044]