The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has made a non‑material change to the Norfolk Vanguard Offshore Wind Farm Order 2022, with the Norfolk Vanguard Offshore Wind Farm (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 2025 coming into force on 19 December 2025 after being made on 18 December. The change was processed under paragraph 2 of Schedule 6 to the Planning Act 2008 and the 2011 DCO Changes Regulations following consultation, as recorded on the official legislation portal.
Two definitional updates are included. Article 2 now expressly defines “Defra” as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (and any successor), and the “undertaker” is restated as Norfolk Vanguard West Limited (Company No. 08141115). The 2022 Order had named Norfolk Vanguard Limited with the same company number; this update aligns the DCO with the company’s current registered name without altering the underlying entity.
The most substantive revisions are to Part 3 of Schedule 17, which governs compensation measures for the Haisborough, Hammond and Winterton Special Area of Conservation (HHW SAC). New and clarified terms include the benthic implementation and monitoring plan (BIMP), the role of a benthic steering group (BSG) in shaping it, and the option of making a “Marine Recovery Fund Payment” (MRFP) defined by reference to section 292 of the Energy Act 2023.
The Order removes the previous pre‑condition that prohibited cable installation works within the HHW SAC until a specified area of marine debris had been cleared. That sentence in paragraph 30 is omitted. In its place, the instrument strengthens ongoing oversight through the BIMP and related reporting duties rather than a single front‑loaded clearance trigger.
Revised paragraph 32 now requires results from the monitoring scheme to be submitted at least annually to the Secretary of State, the Marine Management Organisation and the relevant statutory nature conservation body. Where monitoring shows measures are ineffective, the undertaker must propose and then implement remedial steps approved in writing by the Secretary of State.
Paragraph 33 is replaced so that, subject to later provisions, a completion report demonstrating delivery of the BIMP must be submitted within 12 months of completing the relevant activities. This codifies the end‑point for compensation delivery while maintaining scope for adaptive management.
A new adaptive route is introduced at paragraphs 35–40. If the required area of marine debris cannot be fully removed, the undertaker may apply to the Secretary of State to substitute the shortfall with a Marine Recovery Fund Payment. The application must quantify the shortfall and, where the impact is shared with the Norfolk Boreas project via the shared cable corridor, set out the proportion attributable to Vanguard.
Before approving substitution, the Secretary of State must be satisfied that using the Marine Recovery Fund is acceptable in principle and that Defra (or the fund’s operator) has confirmed the fund can be used, including a monetary valuation of sums due. If approved, no cable installation in the HHW SAC may proceed until an implementation and monitoring plan is approved and the undertaker is discharged from further obligations under this Part in line with paragraph 39. This aligns the DCO with the enabling framework in section 292 of the Energy Act 2023 for strategic compensation.
Discharge from further obligations can occur in three ways: approval of the completion report; payment in full of the agreed MRFP; or entry into and first payment under an instalment contract with the fund operator, subject to the Secretary of State confirming the payment fulfils the compensation requirement. Any discharge via instalments preserves the duty to keep paying per the contract.
In practical terms, developers gain a clear, government‑sanctioned route to resolve unmet physical measures through a strategic payment mechanism, while regulators retain annual reporting, plan approval and payment verification levers. For the HHW SAC-designated for sandbanks and Sabellaria spinulosa reef-this maintains compensatory outcomes through monitored delivery or funded strategic measures, rather than relying solely on pre‑construction debris clearance.