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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they still intend to take steps to ensure that any site proposed by them for a national nuclear waste repository will be dependent on the approval and consent of all the relevant local, county and regional authorities.

The Government is committed to a consent based approach for siting a geological disposal facility, which will involve working with communities that are willing to participate in the siting process. In the 2014 Geological Disposal White Paper Government recognised that local representative bodies – including all levels of local government – will need to have a voice in this process.

In addition, a Geological Disposal Facility and associated boreholes have been brought within the definition of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects under the Planning Act 2008. The development consent process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects places specific requirements on the developer to consult local communities, local authorities, statutory bodies, and other interested parties before any application for development consent is made.