What is a Development Consent Order (DCO)?
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (“NSIPs”) are major infrastructure developments in England & Wales These include projects such as power plants, large renewable energy projects, new airports, airport extensions and major road projects.
A Development Consent Order (“DCO”) application for consent to undertake a NSIP is made to the Planning Inspectorate who will consider the application and make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who will decide on whether development consent should be granted for the proposed scheme.
The NSIP process comprises six key stages, covering:
- Pre-application
- Acceptance
- Pre-examination
- Examination
- Decision
- Post-decision stages.
Upon receipt of an application for development consent, the Planning Inspectorate has 28 days to decide whether or not to accept it.
There is a period of 6 months for the Planning Inspectorate to examine an application and 3 months for the Planning Inspectorate to make its recommendation to the Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State has a further period of 3 months in which to issue a decision.
From accepting an application to making a decision, the whole process should last in the region of 15 months. Previously, the average time taken for major applications in planning was around 2 years.