Clause 96 - Safety zones around renewable energy installations
Energy Bill [Lords]
2:45 pm
Mr Nigel Griffiths (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Edinburgh South, Labour)
I hope that I can be helpful to the hon. Lady in saying that there are a number of precedents for establishing safety zones. To see that, one has only to consider North sea and other oil installations around our coast for which the criteria have been set out. It is also important to realise that safety zones are created at different times in the construction and development of offshore sites. A safety zone may be required during a critical construction phase, but not later.
I can assure the hon. Lady that there were sufficient precedents in that respect to allow us to frame clause 96. The legislative underpinning is the Coast Protection Act 1949. That is what established practice all these years later is based on.
We must ensure that the safety zone regime is adequate—we believe it will be—to safeguard the area of water around or adjacent to a renewable energy installation, and that it is assessed at the various stages of its development and management. Any decommissioning may involve a safety zone, as is the case for other offshore installations.
I am informed that an applicant for a safety zone will have to make a case based on safety grounds to the Secretary of State. That case will be assessed by the DTI in conjunction with the MCA. If the installation is to be located where there is minimal traffic and the waters are judged to be safe, the case for a safety zone may not be made. If the case is not made, a safety zone will not be considered appropriate.
Where a safety zone is considered necessary, it can be tailored to the particular circumstances of the installation and of the waters where it will be located. I am advised that the fullest consultation will take place with interested parties before the Secretary of State takes a decision on the application—a process that is set out in schedule 16—including provision for a public inquiry to be held where the issues raised are deemed to be of particular importance. It is vital that the clause is in the Bill because it allows the
Government to provide a safety zone, which is designed to minimise the risk to life and property. I hope that the Committee will accept the clause.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 96 ordered to stand part of the Bill.