Source · Select Committees · Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
Recommendation 26
26
Accepted
Review EN-1 sentence on CNP capacity reduction against biodiversity commitments.
Recommendation
The Government should review whether the following sentence in EN-1, paragraph 4.2.24, is consistent with its own domestic and international biodiversity commitments, as well as those of the devolved administrations: 55 “Measures that result in a material reduction in generation capacity for CNP infrastructure are unlikely to be considered to be appropriate as mitigation.” (Recommendation, Paragraph 70)
Government Response Summary
The government has amended EN-1, paragraph 4.2.24, to clarify that the policy does not solely aim to maximise generation capacity and that small reductions are appropriate if they achieve significant environmental benefits.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Government response to Recommendations 24 and 26. We have amended the wording in EN-1, paragraph 4.2.24, which now reads as follows: “Measures that result in a significant reduction in generation capacity for CNP infrastructure are unlikely to be considered to be appropriate as mitigation. There may be exceptional circumstances where the mitigation could have a significant benefit and warrant a small reduction in generation capacity and function. In these circumstances, the Secretary of State may decide that the benefits of the mitigation to reduce the effects outweigh the marginal loss of function.” We have amended the wording in EN-1 to make it clear that the focus of Critical National Priority policy is not to maximise generating capacity at the expense of important considerations regarding impacts on the environment. Replacing “material reduction” with “significant reduction” makes it clearer that small scale reductions in generation capacity can be appropriate if they achieve mitigation that has a significant benefit on the receptor being impacted. We have bolstered this change with the new sentence that follows, which aligns with text in EN-1 Section 5.5 (Civil and Military Aviation and Defence Interests) and Section 5.10 (Landscape and Visual) on circumstances where it may be considered acceptable to reduce the function of a proposed development in order to mitigate for an impact.