Planning Inspectorate officials have completed their examination of plans for the £20bn Hitachi-backed Wylfa nuclear power plant in North Wales. Officials will rule on a development consent order (DCO) application for the project in three months. If the Planning Inspectorate approves the DCO, the project must also be approved by business secretary Greg Clark before it can go ahead. Introduced in 2008, DCOs are designed to streamline construction planning for projects designated as nationally significant by rolling other individual consents such as planning permission, listed building consent and compulsory purchase orders into one. The decision to continue with the DCO application for Wylfa comes despite work on the site remaining suspended – work was stopped in January when Hitachi struggled to secure additional private investment in the project.
New Civil Engineer 24th April 2019 read more »