The Secretary of State has made a non‑material change to the Norfolk Boreas Offshore Wind Farm Order 2021, formalised as S.I. 2025/1362 and in force from 19 December 2025. The instrument updates compensation, monitoring and administrative provisions linked to the Haisborough, Hammond and Winterton Special Area of Conservation (HHW SAC).
The Order introduces a clear pathway to use the Marine Recovery Fund (MRF) where direct removal of marine debris cannot be fully delivered. Section 292 of the Energy Act 2023 provides the legal basis for marine recovery funds, and the Marine Recovery Funds Regulations 2025, in force from 17 December 2025, set out establishment and operation.
Under the amended Schedule 19 Part 3, the undertaker may apply to the Secretary of State to make a Marine Recovery Fund Payment as an adaptive management measure in substitution for any shortfall in the required marine debris removal. The application must explain what proportion of the overall marine debris removal requirement relates to Norfolk Boreas in the shared cable corridor with Norfolk Vanguard, and report what has already been removed under the benthic implementation and monitoring plan (BIMP). Approval is conditional on confirmation from Defra (or the responsible operator) that the MRF can be used and the sums due are quantified.
Once the Secretary of State approves use of the MRF route, cable installation within the HHW SAC may only proceed when an implementation and monitoring plan has been approved and the undertaker has been discharged from any further duty to deliver the physical compensation measures in this Part, in line with the discharge conditions now set out.
Discharge can occur in three ways: approval of a completion report for BIMP activities; payment of the full agreed Marine Recovery Fund sum; or entry into a contract to make that payment by instalments with the first instalment paid. Where discharge is via an instalment contract, the undertaker must continue to comply with the payment schedule and any contract conditions.
The amendment strengthens reporting obligations. Results from the monitoring scheme must be submitted at least annually to the Secretary of State, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and the relevant statutory nature conservation body, including any finding that measures have not improved HHW SAC condition and proposals to address this-proposals that the undertaker must then implement once approved.
A completion report demonstrating that BIMP activities have been concluded must be submitted within 12 months of completion, subject to the new paragraphs that govern adaptive use of the MRF and subsequent discharge. These provisions sit alongside the July 2024 approval of the Version 2 BIMP referenced by the Planning Inspectorate.
A key textual change is the removal of the previous pre‑commencement wording that blocked cable installation within the HHW SAC unless at least 8.3 hectares of marine debris had first been removed. That requirement formed part of the original DCO’s tracked text for Schedule 19 Part 3 and is now replaced by the option to apply for MRF substitution if delivery falls short.
Administrative updates include adding a definition of “Defra” in Article 2, revising the “undertaker” definition to “Norfolk Boreas Limited”, and correcting three geospatial coordinates in Schedule 1 (points 29, 67 and 164) to ensure positional accuracy for authorised development. These adjustments align the DCO with current corporate details and survey data.
For project teams, the practical effect is to formalise a government‑run alternative when debris clearance proves impracticable, while keeping environmental outcomes enforceable. With the MRF Regulations in force and application guidance published by government, developers can reserve approved strategic compensatory measures and cost them against defined fee bands. Finance, consenting and ecology leads should integrate the new route into delivery risk registers, update BIMP schedules, coordinate with Norfolk Vanguard on shared‑corridor apportionment, and maintain evidence trails for annual reporting and any staged MRF payments.