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1.3 Policy and legislation ​

1.3.1.1 This section provides a summary of the policy and legislative context for the Morgan Generation Assets with reference to the consenting process, including details of the Planning Act 2008 and associated planning policy.

1.3.1.2 Policy and legislation specific to individual environmental topics and EIA are set out within each topic chapter of this PEIR.

1.3.2 Consenting regime ​

1.3.2.1 The Morgan Generation Assets require consent under the Planning Act 2008, as amended. This section provides a summary of the consenting process and describes the legal requirements for EIA.

1.3.2.2 An EIA is required for the assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment under EU Directive 2011/92/EU (as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU) (the EIA Directive). The EIA Directive is transposed into English law for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) by the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017.

1.3.2.3 The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (as amended) and the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007 (as amended) set out the requirements for EIA under the Planning Act 2008 (in compliance with the EIA directive) and the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 respectively.

1.3.2.4 The EIA ensures that the decision maker has enough information on the likely significant effects on the environment arising from a project. The approach to EIA for the Morgan Generation Assets is set out in section 1.6. Habitats Regulations

1.3.2.5 The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended) and the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended) require the assessment of significant effects on internationally important nature conservation sites where these may arise as a result of a project. These internationally important sites include Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), or candidate SACs (cSACs), Special Protection Areas (SPAs) or potential SPAs (pSPAs), sites of community importance (SCI) and Ramsar sites. The assessment is to be undertaken by the 'competent authority', which in the case of the Morgan Generation Assets is the Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (formerly BEIS).

1.3.2.6 In order to carry out the Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA), the competent authority requires a report to be submitted alongside the application for development consent that provides the information required to undertake the Appropriate Assessment. A Draft Information to Support Appropriate Assessment (ISAA) is provided alongside this PEIR. The ISAA will be finalised following completion of pre-application consultation and will accompany the application to the Secretary of State for development consent.