Norfolk Boreas DCO amended: Marine Recovery Fund option

On 18 December 2025, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero made the Norfolk Boreas Offshore Wind Farm (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2025. Signed, by authority of the Secretary of State, by John Wheadon at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, it came into force on 19 December 2025. The Order is published on legislation.gov.uk.

In plain terms, a Development Consent Order is the main legal permission for very large projects. When you need to adjust it, the Planning Act 2008 offers non‑material changes for small tweaks that do not alter the overall project. Under the 2011 Regulations, the department publicises and consults first; after considering responses under regulations 6 and 7, the Secretary of State can approve a change that is not materially different to what was applied for. That is what has happened here.

This amendment clarifies who the undertaker is, naming Norfolk Boreas Limited (Company No. 03722058), and adds a definition for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It also corrects several coordinates in the authorised development at points 29, 67 and 164 so the record of the works remains exact.

The most instructive update sits in the compensation for the Haisborough, Hammond and Winterton Special Area of Conservation. We are introduced to a benthic implementation and monitoring plan, known as the BIMP, which sets out how seabed measures will be delivered and checked. A benthic steering group will guide the scope and delivery, while the HHW SAC compensation plan remains a certified document under article 37 of the Order.

Previously there was a fixed gate: at least 8.3 hectares of marine debris had to be removed before any cable installation within the SAC could begin. That single precondition is now omitted. What this means for you as a learner is that delivery shifts to a programme with monitoring and the ability to correct course if early actions do not achieve the intended improvement.

A new route, described as adaptive management, allows the undertaker to apply to substitute any outstanding debris removal with a Marine Recovery Fund Payment. The Marine Recovery Fund was created by the Energy Act 2023 to support strategic environmental compensation, and the sum here would be agreed with Defra or whoever operates the Fund.

This route only opens if the Secretary of State is satisfied it is acceptable in principle and if Defra confirms the Fund can be used, including a clear monetary figure. Until an implementation and monitoring plan is approved and the undertaker is formally discharged from further obligations under this part, no cable installation works may take place within the SAC.

Monitoring is tightened. Results must be sent at least annually to the Secretary of State, the Marine Management Organisation and the relevant statutory nature conservation body. If monitoring shows the measures are not delivering improvement, the undertaker must propose fixes and then implement whatever is approved. A completion report is due within 12 months of finishing the BIMP activities, unless the Fund route is used and confirmed.

The amendment explains how obligations are brought to a close. Discharge can follow approval of the completion report; payment in full into the Marine Recovery Fund with written confirmation that it fulfils the requirement; or a signed instalment contract with Defra where the first payment has been made and confirmed. Even if discharged on that third basis, the instalment schedule must still be honoured. Where effects are shared with the Norfolk Vanguard scheme because of the shared cable corridor, any application must set out the proportion and take account of any contribution already counted for Norfolk Vanguard.

The wider lesson is about how big projects are kept accountable. We plan, we monitor, and we adapt with transparency. For students, this case shows how compensation for protected sites can be delivered directly on the ground or, where that proves impractical, via a ring‑fenced public fund with clear checks. Keep an eye on the BIMP, the steering group’s work and the annual reporting: that is where we can see whether promises turn into real environmental gain.