• those relating to energy generation, transmission or storage
• highway related development
• airport related development
• harbour facilities
• railways 
• rail freight interchanges
• transfer of water resources
• waste water treatment plant
• hazardous waste facilities

Procedurally, the most significant point to note in the determination of an NSIP is that the decision making role which the Local Planning Authority normally exercises with regard to all development proposal is taken away from them and now rests with the Secretary of State. This means that the role of the local planning authority is now that of an interested party and consultee. The final decision is made by the  Secretary of State. Under the Localism Act 2011 the Planning Inspectorate became the government agency responsible for operating the planning process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. The Planning Inspectorate assesses each project and makes recommendations to the Secretary of State. A successful decision comes in the form of what is referred to as a Development Consent Order.

Another aspect of the procedure is that the developer is required to do most of the work with regards to the project in the pre application stage. This means that any responses to consultation exercises should be directed towards the developer and not the local planning authority or the Planning Inspectorate. The responsibilities change when the  proposal is formally submitted for examination at which time the Planning Inspectorate takes more of a lead role.  
The link below will take you to National Infrastructure Planning website homepage where you can browse and explore the background to the process and procedure: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk 

There are three Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) proposals which relate to land wholly or partly within the district. They are all at different stages of the process. These projects are listed below with key actions together with the link to the developers own web site and the link to the planning inspectorate web site. These web sites will show the most up to date information on the schemes.

Southampton to London Pipeline Project

This project was formally submitted in May 2019. The proposal is to replace the existing aviation fuel pipeline that runs up from Fawley and serves the London Airports. The original pipeline is coming to the end of its useful life. Winchester City Council has an interest in the short section of the pipeline route from where it enters the district to the point where it crosses the B2177 west of Bishops Waltham and enters the South Downs National Park.  The applicant’s web site is the best site from which to get an overview of the project.  This can be found using the following link.

The six month Examination Stage began on 9 October 2019. The Examination Stage is principally a written process but has included a series of one day hearings at a venue up in Farnborough (an approximate midway point in the pipeline).  The topics for the hearings were decided by the examination panel which consisted of three inspectors.  As the Examination has progressed, the scheme has evolved and changed in response to the comments made by third parties and resulting from the questions asked by the examination panel of inspectors. The most significant aspect for Winchester City Council has been the removal of the proposal for a logistical hub (depot) that was to be formed off the A31 at Ropley Green.  The main details and actions are displayed and recorded on the planning inspectorate website. This can be viewed via the following link.

The Examination Stage closed on 9 April 2020.  The Examination Panel completed and submitted their recommendation  to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 7 July 2020. He issued the decision to grant the development consent order  on 7 October 2020. The secretary of state’s decision letter and the development consent order together with the background papers to this decision can be viewed on the application website using the link above.

Esso had made all the necessary submissions to the Council  to agree the details of the work that are needed  before they commence work in the Winchester City Council section of the pipeline. These  submissions are referred to as Requirement submissions.  As the route crosses multiple local authority  boundaries there is some variation in the level of detail that needs to be submitted to each Council. The current  work program (phasing plan) indicates that vegetation will be removed over the winter of 2021-22 with  the compounds  established  from April 2022 onward and the pipe laying taking place between May to early August 2022. Reinstatement work will  be completed over the  Autumn and Winter of 2022-23.

 

Since the decision was  made to approve the scheme  the application  website has closed to additional documents. Esso have set up a  dedicated  web site that provides general information about the scheme and is keeping a  live update on  progress. This can be viewed using the following link. The update includes the record on the Requirement submissions. This website covers the  full  extent of the proposed pipeline so  if you do  view it, please check that you are viewing the specific pages that applies to the Winchester City Council  section of the route

Updated: 14 December 2021

Aquind Interconnector

This is a proposal to create a 2000 MW cross Channel electricity link which will enable power to be imported or exported. The UK side of the link would make landfall in Portsmouth with the DC cables laid in the highway up off the island, then up to A3 to Waterlooville and along the Hambledon Road (B2150) before striking off northward to Lovedean where the connection would be made to the UK national grid, utilising the existing substation. A Converter Station would be constructed on the western side of the substation to allow the power to be converted from either DC to AC or from AC to DC depending on whether power is being imported or exported. 

There is some general information about Aquind who are the promoters and an overview of the scheme on their web site which can be accessed via the following link.

Five councils have an interest in this scheme and the South Downs National Park Authority is also involved given the proximity of the Converter Station to the National Park boundary. Winchester City Council is a host authority to a section of the cable route and for the Converter Station.

Aquind ran a consultation exercise based on their Preliminary Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) from February to April 2019.  The formal application was accepted for examination by the planning inspectorate in December 2019. The main documents are held on the planning inspectorate web site. This can be viewed via the following link.

Managing and displaying the documents associated with  the Examination  is not an easy task. Aquind’s original submission in December  2019  was over 160 documents. Whilst the front page of the Aquind project on the PINs website tells you of the most recent actions, the Examination Library is  probably the easiest way to find a document or where we are in the process. The Library is divided up into a series of folders which  either contain a series of documents with additions throughout the Examination  such as the folder headed Procedural Decisions and Notifications from the Examining Authority, or the folder will  display  all documents submitted at a specific deadline. These deadlines correspond with those  identified in the  timetable letter. The following is a link to the library.

A report was considered at the Cabinet Committee meeting on 11 March 2020 (item 13). This set out the  approach that the Council adopted in  the process. The report can be viewed using the following link.   One outcome of the Cabinet paper was  the commitment to  establish a local contact group with  the elected members for Denmead and  the parish councils in that area. This group regularly meets online to  review  the application and consider  the Councils latest position.

A date for the Preliminary Meeting (PM) was set for 22 April 2020. The proposed venue was to be the Village Hotel at Cosham. This meeting would discuss those topics to be considered at hearings, fix the timetable for the submission of key documents and discuss when the hearings would take place.  Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the PM was postponed. On 3 July 2020 a fresh date for the PM  was announced  as 18 August 2020. The 8 September 2020 was also  held  over as a second day for the PM.  A new letter was issued setting out the proposed draft  timetable. The meetings took  place online using Microsoft Teams.  An audio recording of the two meeting was made and can be  listened to  using the  link on the application web site.

The closure of the second part of the Preliminary Meeting on 8 September 2020 formally started the 6 month  Examination Stage of the application.  On 15 September  the Planning Inspectorate  issued the finalised timetable for the Examination. This set out all the deadlines for the submission of  statements and the dates for the various open floor hearings and the issue specific hearings.  This timetable has been revised on two occasions with  a new Timetable letter being issued. The most recent is 11 January 2021.

At the  first deadline of 6 October 2020 the Councils submitted its Local Impact Report which set out in full detail its views on the proposal. Since that date, the Examination has passed through 9 deadlines where the interested parties have had the opportunity to submit  updated views on aspects of the scheme and comment on  the previous submission of other parties. All the deadline submissions are published in the examination library which is part of the record held on the web site. Through this submission and comment procedure, the application has been evolving. A number of online hearings were held in December 2020 and a further set held in February 2021. All the hearings where live streamed and audio recordings are part of the library record. The  Examination stage was completed on 8 March 2021.

The  panel of inspectors who ran the Examination submitted their findings, conclusions and  recommendation to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 8 June 2021. This submission  kept to the indicated timetable for actions. At this time  no one knows what that report contains. The Secretary of State  should have made a decision within three months. This meant a decision by 8 September 2021.The process does allow the Secretary of State to extend the decision period if he wants more time to consider the  details or to ask for further information. In this instance the Secretary of State has issued three  requests for additional information and offered  interested parties time to respond.  A new decision date has been set of 21 January 2022.  All the  post Examination  documents are available to view on the application  website in the documents folder under the  “decision stage” category. 

On 20 January 2022 the Secretary of State issued his decision and refused the application. The decision consists of five documents which can be viewed on the application website and these can be accessed here. On 8 March 2022 Aquind announced that they had launched a legal challenge in the Courts  against the Secretary of States decision. If the challenge goes the whole way through to a Court judgment, then   we can expect the outcome in early 2023.  That  outcome may be to dismiss the challenge or in the event of a successful challenge for the  application decision to be quashed and the matter returned to the Secretary of State for his re-consideration.  This would then see a fresh decision being  issued that could either  reaffirm refusal  or  arrive at a different outcome.  

Updated: 21 January 2021

M3 Junction 9 Improvement

Highways England (HE) are promoting this scheme that would see the redesign of the current junction, allowing northbound traffic on the motorway which intends to join the A34 to do so without stopping and for A34 southbound traffic to join the M3 also without stopping.

Highways England ran a consultation exercise based on the Preliminary Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) in July/August 2019. WCC formally responded. Given the interest in the scheme a report was considered by the Cabinet on 28 August 2019 which set out the basis of the response to the PEIR. That Cabinet report (agenda item 11) can be viewed via the following link.

As the scheme is still in the pre application stage the applicant’s web site contains most information. This can be accessed via the following link.

The planning inspectorate web site does contain some limited information and can be viewed via the following link.

It is understood that Highway England are currently looking at the  traffic flow and lane circulation arrangements  regarding safety concerns for those vehicles intending  to  travel northbound on the  A33 from the  newly designed junction. A further round of public consultations will take place once this redesign work is completed. WCC is actively seeking to discussion general issues regarding the project before any redesign work is undertaken. A consultation on the revised plans is expected during Summer 2021 when it is hoped COVID-19 restrictions will allow in-person consultation events

10 March 2021

The site for the following project is located in the Test Valley District Area to the north of Barton Stacey on the opposite side of the A303. However, given its proximity to the district boundary, the wider implications of this proposal in terms of landscape impact, air quality and traffic where noted and a decision made to comment upon them.

7 July 2021

Highways England held a consultation period on revised plans between 27 May and 8 July 2021. The City Council submitted a formal response to Highways England in response to this consultation which can be found here ^{(pdf, 718kb)}.

14 December 2021

National Highways (previously known as Highways England) have uploaded a summary document of the latest consultation to their dedicated website.

National Highways are conducting surveys on the land and finalising their proposals. National Highways intend to submit their application to the Planning Inspectorate in the first half of 2022. Winchester City Council, working alongside Hampshire County Council and the South Downs National Park Authority, will be involved in the application process as a consultee.

Wheelabrator Harewood Waste to Energy Facility - Scheme WIthdrawn

This is a project that would see the incineration of waste drawn from a wide area utilising the good road connections that the A303 provides to the strategic road network. The resultant heat would be used to raise steam to generate electricity that would be fed into the national grid.  The proposal exceeded  the power generation threshold and if submitted would be considered under the NSIP regulations. 

In 2019, the promoters of the scheme undertook a consultation exercise based on the Preliminary Environmental Impact Report (PEIR).

In February 2020 the promoters wrote to the planning inspectorate informing them that they did not wish to proceed with the project.  In other press releases reference was made to the promoter focusing on developing their other Energy from Waste schemes in the UK. 

Because the proposal never got to the point of a formal submission, the  pre application details that originally show up on the planning inspectorate web site have now been removed.  It also appears that the applicants dedicated web site has now been taken down. 

Given the above circumstances work on this project has now ceased and the file closed.