Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2017 to Question 118084, on Dredging, what steps he has taken to ensure that works relating to the development of the Hinkley B site comply with the London Convention 1972.

The Secretary of State is the appropriate licensing authority for the English inshore and offshore regions, although most of the Secretary of State’s licensing functions have been delegated to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (MCAA). Under Section 71(6) of the MCAA the MMO is required to comply with international law when exercising its licensing functions, including the London Protocol 1996. This Protocol was adopted in 1996 to modernise the London Convention 1972.

The MMO has issued one licence for maintenance activities at Hinkley Point B for the removal of sand and cobble material along the base of the sea wall, in order to keep the power station’s surface water drains clear. The licence is valid between 2015 and 2025, and allows for removed material to be deposited or ‘spread’ across a beach located to the east of Hinkley Point B.

Any dredging activities associated with the original construction of Hinkley Point B station would have been considered by the relevant regulator at the time of the application.