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Draft National Policy Statement for Fossil Fuel Electricity Generating Infrastructure (EN-2)

I beg the Minister’s pardon. I accept the fact that there is a difference between the two programmes. However, a very large number of people are spending a very large amount of time beavering away on the tidal and wave issue. What will be the decision-making process around tidal and wave renewable energy? I appreciate that the Severn is in a slightly different place and that Ministers may want to keep that as a separate decision-making process reserved to the Government rather than giving it to the IPC. I would commend that in its current state. However, we are rapidly seeing coming up on the rails the Mersey, the Solway in Scotland—though that would not, of course, be covered by the IPC—and, less convincingly, small but grandiose ideas on the Wash. All these would be big enough to meet the IPC threshold. Will the Minister clarify what the process will be for bringing tidal and wave into the NPS suite? Who will make decisions, should propositions on some of these other estuaries come forward in the interim? Will the Government make a policy statement about tidal and wave and create another NPS?