Get development consent for an offshore wind farm

Consent for an offshore wind farm depends on where it will be built and how much it will generate. The rules here are for projects in the waters adjoining England and in the English part of the Renewable Energy Zone. The order does not cover two things you arrange separately: the right to use the seabed and a connection to the grid.

Work out which consent route applies

A wind farm that generates electricity offshore is a nationally significant infrastructure project if its capacity is above the threshold in section 15 of the Planning Act 2008. A nationally significant project cannot be built without a Development Consent Order, which the Secretary of State grants. It is the planning consent for the project.

Apply for the order

You apply to the Secretary of State, and the Planning Inspectorate runs the process on their behalf. The Act sets time limits for each stage once you have applied. The Secretary of State can set a later deadline for the examination report or the decision.

Before you apply, notify the Secretary of State of the proposed application and publicise it in the prescribed manner. The Secretary of State may accept your application only if you have notified them, and also takes into account your approach to publicity, the published guidance and any advice the Planning Inspectorate gave you. From 24 July 2026 the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 removed the statutory duties to consult the local community and certain bodies before applying. The Secretary of State must still take into account how you have followed the guidance when deciding whether to accept your application.

Where your project needs environmental impact assessment, the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 set out what your application must contain.

A claim for judicial review must be filed within 6 weeks of the order, or of the statement of reasons, being published. Once the order is made, you must still meet its requirements before construction starts and comply with them for the life of the project.

Use the deemed marine licence

A Development Consent Order can include a deemed marine licence for marine activities that take place wholly in English waters or the English part of the Renewable Energy Zone. It saves you applying separately for a marine licence from the MMO under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. The licence becomes a schedule to the order, and the MMO monitors and enforces it. Ask the MMO for advice before submission, so that the licence conditions in your draft order are ones it can enforce.

Activities outside that area, such as work in the Welsh marine area, are not covered and need their own licence.

Secure the seabed rights first

The order does not give you the right to use the seabed.

The Crown Estate estimates around five years for the Round 4 projects to be developed and consented, and says each needs a Development Consent Order. The Capacity Increase Programme also lets seven existing projects add capacity, up to 4.7GW in total.

The Planning Act 2008 adds a requirement where the order would affect Crown land (section 135): the order may include provision that applies to that land only with the consent of the Crown authority concerned.

Plan for the grid connection

A Development Consent Order is a planning consent, not a connection to the electricity network. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) runs connections reform, which changes how projects connect to the network, so check its current process alongside your pre-application work.