Planning Bill

My Lords, I was delighted to hear the Minister express enthusiasm for the power of the tides and waves and so on, and for his visit to Lowestoft. I am pleased that he came back full of enthusiasm because, as he knows, the Carbon Trust estimated some time ago that about 15 to 20 per cent of UK electricity could be generated by wave and tidal power, so it is potentially of enormous importance. The Bill as framed effectively brings under the IPC only wind farms of 100 megawatts or more. So, given the current state of technology, for some years to come, what is recognised to be strategically important—that is, the power of the wind, waves and tides—will not come under the IPC. Among the few questions that I would like my noble friend to address today—or, if not, to write to me before Report—is whether or not wave and tidal energy will be considered under national policy statements. Clearly, under the Bill it will not fall under the IPC—I assume it will fall under the powers of the marine management organisation—but where will this important technology come in in relation to national infrastructure policy statements? Given this distinction, perhaps my noble friend will address one or two matters today or, if not, write to me. Under the Bill there is a minimum limit of 100 megawatts for what are, effectively, wind farms. If a wind farm of 100 megawatts was extended but the extension was much less than 100 megawatts, would the IPC deal with such an extension off-site—it would be helpful to have this on record—or would it come under the MMO? The question of extensions is, potentially, quite important. I turn to my second question. Offshore planning and maritime issues are at present subject to a limited amount of expertise. They were previously under BERR but, I believe, are now under the new Department of Energy and Climate Change. That is a small team, as noble Lords will know; it is certainly in single figures. The future location of that expertise is really quite important because there is not a lot of it. In future there will be the DECC, the IPC and the MMO. The worst of all worlds would be if that expertise were split up in some way and spread around even more thinly. It is important that the expertise is kept in one place, at least until things have settled down and then we can see what the scale of operations is going to be. Has thought been given to this? The IPC will shortly be formed and in operation, and applications will be coming in forthwith. They will have to be dealt with, or they will be outstanding. Will the expertise be kept together and put in with the IPC until such time as future expansion and development determine whether a large amount of expertise is needed in the MMO as well?