Planning &
Consultation

Planning
Process

Given that the project would generate more than 50MW of renewable energy, Tillbridge Solar is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). This means that we need to submit a Development Consent Order (DCO) application to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The Secretary of State will appoint an independent Examining Authority to scrutinise the development consent application in accordance with the relevant legislation (the Planning Act 2008). The Secretary of State will ask the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) to run the examination of the DCO application. Following this period of examination, PINS will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State as to whether to grant development consent.

You can read more information about the DCO planning process on the PINS website here.

We are planning to submit our full application to PINS in Q3 2023. We have been and will continue to work with communities and other stakeholders before this date to develop and refine our project in more detail. This will include a period of ‘statutory’ consultation, where we will formally publish our more developed proposals for you to comment on. This will follow the non-statutory consultation which has taken place and was aimed at engaging with key stakeholders at an early stage.

In advance of our statutory consultation, we will publish a Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC) outlining our commitments to how we are engaging throughout the development of Tillbridge Solar, including how we will consider and respond to feedback. This consultation will include sharing the findings of our environmental surveys and assessments conducted up until that point, in our Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR).

Consultation and engagement

Tillbridge Solar is committed to engaging and consulting with communities and other stakeholders from an early stage to give people the opportunity to shape the project’s core design. We want to understand any issues that are important to you and build a project that benefits the local area for years to come.

As part of the early-stage engagement for Tillbridge Solar, we held a series of collaboration workshops in the local area with key stakeholders and community representatives. These workshops provided the opportunity for the Tillbridge Solar team to introduce the early-stage plans and explain more about our proposals. We would like to thank everyone that took part in our collaboration workshops. Your comments and engagement has helped us to understand the key issues and constraints and what’s important to you as we continue to refine our plans.

Your comments have also helped us to refine certain aspects of the project and provide suggestions for how we carry out our detailed environmental assessment and design work. A full summary and report of the collaboration workshops can be found in the Documents Library on our website.

During our initial stage of consultation, we have been working collaboratively with key stakeholders to help understand key issues and constraints from their perspective, we have been reviewing the feedback received which will towards our more defined proposal at statutory consultation.

In addition to the collaboration workshops, early stage engagement also included meeting with near neighbours to the development site, including landowners. We will be continuing to engage with local people, including members of the local community and key representatives, leading up to our statutory consultation at the start of next year. If you have any questions about the project, or would like to meet with us before we hold our statutory consultation, please get in touch us by email (info@tillbridgesolar.com) or phone (0800 046 9643).

Opportunities for collaboration

We are aware there are a number of other proposed solar developments in the area and understand the concerns around some of the impacts these projects could cumulatively have on local communities.

We have been and will continue to work constructively with these other developers to ensure:

People are easily able to engage with each of our consultation processes and have opportunities to get involved.

All environmental effects are fully assessed, including any cumulative impacts.

A common-sense approach to construction is taken in order to minimise disruption, including sharing infrastructure and construction timelines, where feasible.

Documents Library

Timeline

2022 - Q3-Q4: Informal engagement and collaboration, and ongoing environmental assessment work.
2022 - Q3: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Request submitted to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS).
2023 - Q1: Publication of our Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC) and ongoing development of our EIA.
2023 - Q1: Statutory consultation and initial environmental findings presented.
2023 - Q2-Q3: Ongoing design refinement and environmental assessment work.
2023 - Q3: Submission of DCO application to PINS for public examination.
2023 - 2024: DCO examination and decision.
2025: Anticipated start of construction.

FAQs

Planning Process