The North Blyth Biomass Power Station Order 2013

General conditions

Notification of commencement and completion

1.—(1) The undertaker shall notify the MMO—

(a)of its acceptance of the conditions contained in this Part 2 not less than 5 working days prior to commencement of the licensed activities or any part of them;

(b)of its intention to commence the licensed activities not less than 5 working days prior to commencement of the licensed activities or any part of them; and

(c)of completion of the authorised development within 10 working days of such completion having occurred.

(2) Not less than 5 working days prior to commencement of the relevant licensed activities the undertaker shall notify the MMO of any agents, contractors or subcontractors proposed to carry out the licensed activities on behalf of the undertaker and those persons notified to the MMO shall provide written confirmation to the MMO confirming their understanding of the terms and requirements of this Schedule and any subsequent amendments or revisions to it issued from time to time.

(3) Not less than 24 hours prior to commencement of the relevant licensed activities the undertaker shall notify the MMO of any vessel (including the vessel type, vessel IMO number and vessel owner or operating company) proposed to be used to carry out the licensed activities on behalf of the undertaker and the Masters of the vessels notified to the MMO shall provide written confirmation to the MMO that a copy of the Order is held upon the vessel and confirming their understanding of the terms and requirements of this Schedule and any subsequent amendments or revisions to it.

Project wide conditions

2.—(1) The licensed activities shall not commence until a marine pollution contingency plan, including details of how in the case of accidental spillage or other pollution event impacts on the marine environment will be minimised, has been submitted to and approved in writing by the MMO. Following approval, the undertaker shall implement the marine pollution contingency plan as approved. The undertaker shall report as soon as reasonably practicable any oil, fuel or chemical spill within the marine environment to the MMO, Marine Pollution Response Team—

(2) The undertaker shall install bunding and/or storage facilities to contain and prevent the release of fuels, oils and chemicals associated with the plant, refuelling and construction equipment into the marine environment, and any secondary containment used shall have a capacity of not less than 110% of the containers storage capacity.

(3) The undertaker shall ensure that a local notice to mariners is issued at least two weeks prior to the commencement of the licensed activities advising local mariners and fishermen’s organisations of the start date and any expected vessel routes to the offshore construction site and shall notify the MMO once issued.

(4) The undertaker shall notify the Source Data Receipt Team, the Hydrographic Office, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 2DN (email: hdcfiles@ukho.gov.uk; tel: 01823 337900) at least two weeks prior to the commencement of works and of the progress and completion of the authorised development for the promulgation of maritime safety information and for all necessary amendments to nautical charts and publications to be made.

(5) No chemicals shall be used in the construction of the licensed activities other than those included in the list of notified chemicals assessed for use by the offshore oil and gas industry under the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002(1) or as may otherwise previously have been certified in writing by the MMO as having been assessed to an equivalent level of toxicological hazard and risk assessment.

(6) All protective coatings/treatments used in the construction of the licensed activities shall be suitable for use in the marine environment and, where necessary, approved by the Health and Safety Executive or in accordance with the Environment Agency Pollution Prevention Control Guidelines. The use of such coatings/treatments shall accord with best environmental practice.

(7) Not less than two months prior to commencement of the relevant licensed activity the undertaker shall submit for approval by the MMO a construction method statement for the relevant activity and the scope of such method statement shall be agreed with the MMO prior to submission and shall fully reflect the construction methods assessed in the environmental statement. The relevant licensed activity shall not commence until the method statement for the relevant activity has been approved in writing by the MMO and following approval, the undertaker shall carry out the relevant licensed activity in accordance with the approved method statement. The method statement shall include provision that the construction of a diffuser and foundation on the sea bed comprising part of the licensed activities described in paragraph 2(2)(b) of Part 1 of this Schedule shall not be carried out during the period 1 April to 30 September in any calendar year.

(8) The undertaker shall ensure that any equipment, temporary structures, waste and/or debris associated with the construction of any licensed activities are removed within six weeks of completion of construction of the licensed activities.

(9) No waste concrete slurry or wash water from concrete or cement works shall be discharged into the marine environment and any concrete and cement mixing and washing areas shall be contained and sited at least 10 metres away from any watercourse or surface water drain.

(10) The licensed activities shall not commence until a marine construction and environmental management plan (“MCEMP”) relating to construction of the licensed activities referred to at paragraph 2 of Part 1 of this Schedule, and drafted in accordance with the principles set out in Chapter 4 of the environmental statement and the code of construction practice has been submitted to and approved in writing by the MMO. The MCEMP shall include a written ecological management plan reflecting the ecological mitigation and enhancement measures included in the environmental statement; details regarding construction noise and vibration management; safety measures and details regarding water management (surface water and ground water). The undertaker shall undertake all remediation, construction and commissioning works and all operation and maintenance works of the licensed activities in accordance with the approved MCEMP. During construction of the licensed activities the undertaker shall submit environmental monitoring reports to the MMO in accordance with the approved MCEMP.

(11) No part of the licensed activities shall commence until the undertaker has submitted to the MMO, and the MMO has approved, written details of any external lighting to be installed at any location of the licensed activities, including measures to prevent light spillage. The approved external lighting shall be installed and maintained for the duration of the licensed activities construction period.

Activity specific conditions

3.—(1) No part of the licensed activities shall commence until (following consultation with the Environment Agency) full details of a scheme for minimising the impact of the water intake system within the River Blyth Estuary on the aquatic environment have been submitted to and approved in writing by the MMO. The submitted scheme shall include—

(a)details of how the water intake system will be protected by a wedge-wire screen with a maximum of 3 millimetres spacing or equivalent system;

(b)details of how the water intake system will minimise the approach velocity of water to the wedge-wired screen or other equivalent system;

(c)details of the concentration of biocides in the water intake system or other equivalent system and how they will be monitored and controlled;

(d)proposals for implementing the scheme in advance of the commencement of commercial operations; and

(e)proposals for monitoring and reporting on the effectiveness of the scheme and, in the event that the scheme does not perform as predicted, a process for any necessary remedial action being approved by the MMO and thereafter implemented within a stated timescale following such approval.

The undertaker shall implement the scheme as approved.

(2) Netting to prevent construction materials/demolition arisings falling into the intertidal mudflats shall be erected prior to and maintained during breaking through of the quay wall into the Blyth Estuary.

(3) The cooling water outfall pipe described as Work No. 1(v) in Schedule 1 to the Order shall only be operated in conjunction with the diffuser described as Work No. 1(w) in Schedule 1 to the Order.

(4) During construction of the cooling water outfall diffuser and foundation spud legs shall be lowered only within the hour before or after the turn of low tide.

(5) The undertaker shall use only marine specification concrete and underwater concreting techniques in the construction of the cooling water outfall diffuser and foundation.

(6) The undertaker shall—

(a)mark and light the licensed activities (including any temporary construction works comprised in the licensed activities) as required by Trinity House, as the MMO directs;

(b)mark the diffuser with an aid to navigation comprising of a yellow pile with a yellow ‘X’ shaped topmark and a Fl (2) Y 10s light or as otherwise required by Trinity House, as the MMO directs;

(c)at all times maintain any aids to navigation to the reasonable satisfaction of Trinity House.

(7) No works for or associated with the construction of the cooling water intake system or with the strengthening of the river wall shall be carried out save in accordance with a silt mitigation scheme which has previously been approved in writing by the MMO. The said scheme shall provide for silt curtains or other effective mechanisms designed to protect the River Blyth Estuary from silt during construction of the said works and for a period of not less than seven days after each of the said works is completed.