AQW 12907/17-22

Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 18/01/2021
Answered On Date: 27/01/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure, given the significant policy-style impact of the Chief Planner’s updated guidance regarding Battery Energy Starage Systems on 16 December, whether she will consider asking the Chief Planner to withdraw the guidance and undertake a consultation on the issue.

Answer:

The publication of the Chief Planners Update (No. 7) on 16 December 2020 sought to provide clarity and advice in relation to BESS developments, including their status as ‘electricity generating’, to help ensure that they are classified and processed through the planning system correctly. As this was a matter of factual clarity rather than a policy change, I do not consider that a consultation on the issue is necessary.

If in the future it is appropriate to revisit the thresholds or policy in relation to BESS developments in this jurisdiction, then consultation requirements with stakeholders will be considered in the usual way.