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Development Consent Order
The amount of clean energy that could be produced by Botley West means that the solar farm is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP).
The development can only, therefore, be authorised by submitting a Development Consent Order (DCO) application to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS). Local councils play an important role as consultees in this process.
PINS will review the application and conduct a robust examination of the application before providing a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The Secretary of State will then make the final decision on whether to grant consent for the Botley West Solar Farm.
For our application to be accepted we will need to demonstrate how we have properly assessed the environmental aspects of the scheme and that we have undertaken meaningful consultation with stakeholders and local communities.
You can read more about the DCO planning process by viewing the PINS website here.
The pre-application stage is where we as applicants engage in a consultation process with local communities, residents and stakeholders to discuss the project in more detail. We will outline the inspections and environmental assessments we have carried out to meet the regulations. This includes evaluating the impact on local people, businesses and wildlife. There will be many opportunities to have your say and ask questions.
Upon receipt of the application for a DCO, PINS has 28 days to decide whether or not to accept it. There are a further six months to examine the application and three months to make their recommendation which will be sent to the Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for the final decision. The pre-submission period is 18 months. We will host two public consultation periods during this time and will inform you of when these periods begin.
You can continue to contact us by email, our freephone information line and by freepost. Our contact details can be found at the bottom of the page.