Agenda and minutes

To receive any declaration of interest from any Member or Officer in respect of any item of business.

No declaration of interest received from any Member or Officer in respect of any item of business.

To submit a report by the Head of Regulation and Economic Development.

Submitted – a report by the Chief Executive with regard to the Isle of Anglesey County Council’s response to National Grid’s Final Route Wide Consultation between Wylfa and Pentir (Section 42).

An amendment to the Welsh version of the report was cited, The first bullet point (last line) of the response letter of the Chief Executive at page 2 ‘adnabod achosionar gyfer tanddaearu’ in place of (canfod ym mhle, o leiaf, y dylai rhannau eraill o’r llinell fod yn danddaearol’.

The Leader of the Council gave a presentation to the full Council and highlighted the following main points :-

·  The National Grid is anticipated to submit a Development Consent Order (DCO) application to the Planning Inspectorate in October 2017;

·  As part of the DCO the National Grid must undertake a Statutory Consultation; as a statutory consultee the Council is required to respond to National Grid’s proposals;

·  The formal Section 42(s42) pre-application consultation is a formal consultation which follows the non-statutory consultation carried out by National Grid in December 2015. The s42 consultation covers a period from 5th October, 2016 to 16th December, 2016.

·  Section 42 seeks response on National Grid’s final route (Wylfa to Pentir);

Wylfa sub-station; New Overhead Line in Anglesey (Sections A, B, C, D & E); The Challenge of crossing the Menai Strait; New Overhead Line in Gwynedd (Section F) and Pentir substation extension.

·  The key concerns are the approach to design evolution and mitigation; absence of a clear planning strategy for the consenting of the Connection Works; lack of clarity in the documentation as to the choice of location for the Menai Strait crossing and related tunnel heads and the cost of achievability of the engineering solution;

·  The themes within the Strategic Report (Appendix A attached to the report) are the main themes identified in previous two responses which have been

maintained and built upon. These include : Project Design & Mitigation,

Consenting Strategy, The Menai Area, Costs, Welsh Language and Culture, Socio-Economic, Tourism, Traffic & Transport, Cumulative Impacts, Health, Wellbeing & Community Cohesion and Consultation;

·  The structure of the Section 42 Response follows previous responses :

Covering letter from the Chief Executive raising key issues, Detailed comments in high level Strategic Report (Appendix A), Comments on the PEIR (Appendix B), Review of all other Reports (Appendix C). The response is both strategic and constructive and based upon the information presented by National Grid, alternatives, amendments and proposed mitigation measures to over-come impacts/challenges);

·  The Council will continue to build on the evidence base of the effects on

Tourism & Landscape, Communities, Cumulative Impacts as a basis for

changes to the Project and mitigation measures together with lobbying the

Welsh Government for a Third Bridge over the Menai Strait;

Given the Isle of Anglesey County Council’s position in respect of undergrounding electricity lines and the failure for this to be satisfactorily addressed by National Grid, the County Council will be contacting the Planning Inspectorate in this regard. Recognising the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.