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Electricity Consents (Planning) (Northern Ireland) Order 2006

I was just about to say that all the methods have the potential to do damage to the environment. The general consent among scientists is that burning fossil fuels has a highly damaging effect on the environment and the planet. Wind farms damage the visual amenity, depending on where they are located. In parts of Britain, I have seen wind farms that look really ugly. Environmental issues will arise and must be taken into account. However, if we want renewable, safe and clean energy, these decisions must be taken. You cannot say that you do not want them. All the factors—location, size, visual impact, whether a wind farm should be sited on land or offshore—must be looked at. There may be barrages, but there are no plans for any at the moment. There are no plans for a barrage in Strangford Lough. Following the review that was instituted late last year, changes have been made in the way advertising is placed by the Government of Northern Ireland to achieve better value for money. Planning applications undoubtedly have a strong local focus. I say in response to the noble Lord, Lord Trimble, that we are talking about big energy operations—they may be individual operations, but they would be large. I assure him that there will be proper and adequate advertising for these projects. Nobody will be able to say that they did not know about them. That is one of the issues with which we have to deal. However, we do not use advertising to fund papers or organisations; we use it to advertise jobs or to provide public information. We have been looking at this matter during the past year. The change followed a review of advertising policy and was aimed at getting value for money. I was asked who takes the decisions. We are talking about two government departments and one Secretary of State. There has to be collective responsibility. We want a lead department to deem the planning consent, but it would not be possible for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to take the planning decision alone, ignorant of all the factors raised by the Department of the Environment and by the Environment and Heritage Service. Those bodies would be deeply involved as statutory consultees. If planning officials or the Environment and Heritage Service—or indeed the Health and Safety Executive—took a contrary view, it would be hard for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to take a decision that went against that view, because all the factors would have been disclosed and would be known. Ultimately, the Secretary of State would be responsible. Expert consultees must be involved. The assessment of the environmental aspects of the legislation will be carried out in the Department of the Environment because it is the planning authority. Some projects, subject to changes that occur in the reform of public administration, will be assessed by local authorities when they become the planning authority. Those projects will probably be the smaller ones. However, I suspect that some energy projects, because they are infrastructure projects, will be assessed at the centre. I was asked who can object. The appeals system in Northern Ireland is different from that in Great Britain. We have always said that it was not our job as direct rule Ministers to transfer to Northern Ireland what happens in Great Britain; instead, it is our job to find a process that is better for Northern Ireland. The Planning Appeals Commission has agreed to conduct public inquiries under the new electricity regime subject to consultation on the detail of its role in the inquiry and the procedure rules that will follow the order. Article 3 allows inspectors to work concurrently on different aspects of the process. This is similar to what happened in planning legislation in England and Wales following the long delay over Terminal 5. That allowed different aspects of the process to be looked at at the same time, with those doing it reporting to the body that was taking the final decision, rather than a mini-inquiry being followed by another mini-inquiry and nothing being done. That is not to say that the decision is pre-taken—far from it. This is a faster, fairer way of arriving at the decision. The environmental and planning safeguards must be in place; that is, publicity for the application, consultation with district councils, and input from the public and the statutory consultees. The Food and Environment Protection Act, the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations, the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations will all be involved in the issuing of consents and licences. In other words, no attempt to short-cut or circumvent the existing planning and environmental rules will be made. The application will merely be made through one department instead of two. I emphasise that point, as I did more than once in my opening speech, because I do not want the wrong impression to be given in Northern Ireland. The noble Lord asked about the process. Detailed processes have yet to be decided for environmental impact assessments and inquiries, but it is expected that they will follow those currently in operation in Great Britain with adaptations for the Northern Ireland context. Officials will work closely with colleagues in the DTI and across government departments in Northern Ireland and with other interested parties to develop the processes necessary. There will be full consultation on all the regulations that will flow from the order. That is the safeguard; it is not the be-all and end-all. The noble Lord asked me about additional inspectors. It is envisaged that additional inspectors will be appointed by the department in circumstances where they are necessary for the progress of an inquiry, which because of its size and complexity requires additional inspectors to handle specific aspects. They will report to the lead inspector. This is virtually the same as the process under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 for England and Wales. The lead inspector will be responsible for reporting to the department. Even when devolution of planning to local government takes place—if the reformed Assembly desires to proceed down that route—a planning appeals process will still exist, even for small applications that are devolved. Larger planning applications will be dealt with at the centre—that was implicit in the review of public administration—because that is where the mass of expertise will lie. I hope that I have given sufficient information to enable noble Lords to approve the order. I repeat that its purpose is to streamline. First, we want to see a big push on renewables. We make no apology about that and there is no secret about it, because budgetary funds have been made available as one of the Secretary of State’s three new funds in the budget that we agreed for energy and renewables. There is a big push in another area, too. When I travel around England as environment and farming Minister, I praise initiatives in Northern Ireland in extracting energy from waste. Massive research projects into extracting energy from waste, whether it is food or animal waste, are taking place in some colleges and institutions in Northern Ireland. It is important to do that because it is environmentally friendly. More projects will be undertaken to meet the energy needs of Northern Ireland and to sell some of that energy to the south. We have the facility to do that and to have an all-island electricity market. On Question, Motion agreed to.