The Government has brought into force the Net Zero Teesside (Amendment) Order 2026, making a targeted change to the development consent order for the project from 29 July 2026. According to the statutory instrument published on legislation.gov.uk, the amendment was made on 28 July 2026 and took effect the following day. The order sits within the Planning Act 2008 regime for nationally significant infrastructure projects, where design limits and operational parameters are set through a development consent order and can later be adjusted through a formal amendment process.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero instrument records that an application was made under paragraph 2 of Schedule 6 to the Planning Act 2008, using the procedure in the Infrastructure Planning (Changes to, and Revocation of, Development Consent Orders) Regulations 2011. That route is used where the Secretary of State is prepared to treat a proposed revision as non-material. The order also states that the Secretary of State considered the responses received through the publicity and consultation steps required by regulations 6 and 7 of the 2011 Regulations before deciding to proceed.
The legal change itself is narrow but precise. Schedule 15 to the Net Zero Teesside Order 2024, which sets design parameters, is amended in Table 14 for two stack elements. The permitted inner diameter for the heat recovery steam generator stack rises from 6.5 metres to 9.0 metres. The permitted inner diameter for the absorber stack rises from 6.6 metres to 7.0 metres.
In practical terms, the amendment widens the authorised design envelope for those two structures without reopening the wider consent. The Secretary of State expressly concluded that the final terms were not materially different from those proposed in the application. For planning and energy sector readers, that point is the main procedural takeaway. The change has been handled as a limited post-consent adjustment rather than a broader revision to the underlying approval for Net Zero Teesside.
What the order does not do is alter the wider structure of the 2024 consent. The remainder of the Net Zero Teesside Order 2024 stays in place unless amended elsewhere, and the explanatory note makes clear that this instrument is only a further amendment to the existing development consent order. That matters for delivery and compliance. Developers, contractors and regulators now work against updated stack diameter limits, but the rest of the project's authorised parameters and controls continue to apply.
The legislation.gov.uk text also places the amendment in an established sequence. The Net Zero Teesside Order 2024 had already been amended by statutory instruments in 2024 and 2025, and the 2026 order adds another technical adjustment to that consented framework. The instrument was signed on behalf of the Secretary of State by John Wheadon, Head of Energy Infrastructure Planning & Innovation at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, on 28 July 2026.
For readers tracking infrastructure planning procedure, the wider lesson is straightforward. Development consent orders are not static once made; they can be refined after consent where the statutory test for a non-material change is met and the required consultation steps have been completed. In plain terms, ministers have approved larger permitted inner diameters for two Net Zero Teesside stacks, and that legal change has applied since 29 July 2026.