Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what criteria were used to determine that the proposed AQUIND interconnector would be made a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.

A direction under Section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 was granted for the UK elements of the proposed AQUIND Interconnector on 30 July 2018. This directed that the project should be treated as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project for which development consent is required. The Section 35 Direction sets out the reasoning for the decision. That document is publicly available on gov.uk and can be found using the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/742186/Section35DirectionAquindInterconnector.pdf.