Documents

1 Feb 2022 9.11 Rept – HyNet NW Hydrogen Pipeline Consultation 220201

February 2022 Uploaded on January 27, 2022

REPORT TO PICKMERE PARISH COUNCIL

1st February 2022

AGENDA ITEM 9.11 HYNET NORTH WEST HYDROGEN PIPELINE

1. REPORT

1.1 A communication has just been received notifying the Council of a consultation on the above project. Some detail of the consultation, which runs from 26 January to 11 March, is included below, but further detail, of the project will be found on its website.

Overview of the project
The HyNet North West Hydrogen Pipeline is essential to unlocking the benefits and ambitions of HyNet North West. Our project will put in place the infrastructure to deliver clean hydrogen power to industry, and blended hydrogen power to homes across the region. We are developing a network of underground pipelines that will safely take low carbon hydrogen produced at Essar’s Stanlow Manufacturing Complex near Ellesmere Port to various industrial organisations.
The pipeline will also transport hydrogen to blending stations in Warburton and Partington (near Manchester) where it will be blended into the existing gas network to heat homes and businesses. The project will also link to underground hydrogen storage facilities that will be used to balance supply and demand. Our pipeline will support the UK’s drive towards a net zero future and will unlock permanent jobs in the region.

The pipeline will be underground, although we will need some additional above ground infrastructure, known as Hydrogen Above Ground Installations (HAGIs), at various locations along the route. Following the construction of the hydrogen production plant at Stanlow, we anticipate starting construction on the first section of the hydrogen pipeline network from 2025, subject to obtaining planning consent.

Our current progress
We are currently at an early stage in our work. So far, we have developed a broad route corridor within which the pipeline could be routed. We have also identified search areas for where our Hydrogen Above Ground Installations (HAGIs) could potentially be located.

We have now launched our first stage of consultation on these early plans, which is open from 26 January 2022 to 11 March 2022. This consultation is non-statutory and will be followed by a second round of statutory consultation later in 2022.

Once this consultation has closed, we will consider all the feedback we have received. We will also carry out lots more technical engineering and environmental work to understand more about the areas we could route the pipeline in. This work, alongside the feedback you provide, will help us identify a more detailed design for the pipeline route. We will present this, alongside our preliminary environmental work, at our second round of consultation later in 2022.

Application process
The HyNet North West Hydrogen Pipeline is a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. This means we will apply to the Planning Inspectorate and Government’s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for a Development Consent Order (DCO), in accordance with the Planning Act 2008. As part of the DCO process, we will be carrying out consultation and engagement with stakeholders and local communities. This will be undertaken throughout the pre-application phase during our two rounds of public consultation.

Broad schematic of the pipeline proposal

Extract from Cadent website showing broad route corridors

1.2 SEPARATELY, a letter has been received from the Planning Inspectorate, who will in due course consider the proposed scheme. The Inspectorate has been requested by the Applicant for its “scoping opinion” as to the information that should be provided by the Applicant in producing an Environmental Statement (ES) relating to the project.

1.3 The Parish Council is a “consultation body” in relation to this question and is being consulted as to the information that should be provided in the ES. There is no statutory requirement for the Parish Council to provide any response if it so wishes.

1.4 The deadline for responding to this ES Scoping consultation is 24 February.

1.5 From a very preliminary consideration of nature of the project, it is considered that such an Environmental Statement should include at least the following:
• Consideration of the impacts of the final project (including any above-ground plant or structures) upon the street scene, the residential amenity of Parish residents and visitors, and the landscape of the Parish.
• Consideration of the impacts of the project prior to and during the construction process, including visual impacts, noise, traffic and pollution, including consideration of the impacts of engineering operations, and the movement of materials to and from the project site.
• Consideration of the impacts of the project on the Parish’s road and public footpath networks, both prior to and during the construction phase and when the scheme is complete.
• Consideration of the impacts of the project – both in its final form and also during the construction phase on existing business enterprises in the parish, including farm holdings and other businesses.
• Proposals for the mitigation of any such impacts.

1.6 Such contents should be virtually a standard part of any such ES. Members are also free of course to add any other aspects which they believe should form part of the ES.

2. RECOMMENDATION

2.1 That the report be noted, any comments passed to Cadent, and the Planning Inspectorate be informed of the Council’s views with regard to the ES Scoping exercise.

 

 

Jack Steel
Clerk to the Parish Council