Energy company loses planning consent for Swansea Bay project after court battle

Sustainable energy company Tidal Power has failed in a second bid to preserve a development consent order (DCO) allowing it to build a £1.3bn tidal lagoon power plant in Swansea Bay. The company was given development consent for the project in June 2015 under special rules set out in the Planning Act 2008 for nationally significant development projects. The order stated that consent would lapse if the project did not “commence” within five years. “Pre-commencement” activities were defined. Five years later, however, the company had carried out surveys and groundwork but hadn’t met pre-commencement criteria, so the permission was deemed to have lapsed. This led to a legal dispute between Tidal Power on one side and the UK secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, Swansea Council and the Welsh government on the other. Tidal Power argued that, while it might not have met the pre-commencement criteria, it had “begun” work on the project and therefore planning permission should not have lapsed. The case went before Judge Jarman QC at the High Court last year. He dismissed the case. Tidal Power appealed, and the case was heard in October by three Court of Appeal judges sitting in Swansea. In a ruling handed down last week, the judges again dismissed the case. “The company had neither begun nor commenced the development under the DCO within the only applicable time limit… and the DCO has ceased to have effect so that the company was not entitled to apply to extend the period,” the judges said in their ruling, adding: “For the reasons we have given, this appeal is dismissed.” The ruling does not mean that plans to generate energy from Swansea Bay have lapsed; Swansea Council is backing another tidal lagoon project for the area. The £1.7bn Blue Eden project is being led by Bridgend-based DST Innovations and a number of business partners, with support from Swansea Council and Associated British Ports. And last month it was announced that tech company Siemens will be working with a consortium to provide a renewable energy transport hub to sit beside the power plant. The Blue Eden project is to be carried out over 12 years in three phases and will create 320MW of renewable energy from a 9.5km-long structure. In addition, the project will include the world’s largest battery facility, a solar power plant, a data centre run on renewable energy, residential waterfront homes for 5,000 people and 150 floating ecohomes. Tidal Lagoon (Swansea Bay) plc v (1) Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2) Welsh Ministers and (3) Council of the City and County of Swansea Court of Appeal (Sir Geoffrey Los, Sir Keith Lindblom, Lord Justice Stuart-Smith) 1 December 2022 Photo © Ivan Bandura/Unsplash