The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has made the Norfolk Vanguard Offshore Wind Farm (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 2025, signed on 18 December 2025 and in force from 19 December 2025. The Secretary of State determined the application under paragraph 2 of Schedule 6 to the Planning Act 2008 as a non-material change after publicity and consultation in accordance with the 2011 Regulations.
Article 2 is updated to insert a definition of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), including any successor body to its functions. The definition of “undertaker” is replaced so that the Order now benefits Norfolk Vanguard West Limited (Company No. 08141115), subject to article 6 on the benefit of the Order.
Part 3 of Schedule 17, which secures measures to protect the coherence of the national site network for the Haisborough, Hammond and Winterton Special Area of Conservation (HHW SAC), is recast. New definitions confirm the benthic implementation and monitoring plan (BIMP), the role of the benthic steering group (BSG) in shaping delivery, the completion report, and the continued status of the HHW SAC compensation plan as a certified document under article 37.
A specific pre-commencement sentence in paragraph 30 that prevented cable installation in the HHW SAC until a required area of marine debris had been removed is omitted. In its place, the amended provisions link commencement to an approved implementation and monitoring plan and to discharge of compensation obligations as set out in paragraphs 38 and 39.
A new adaptive management pathway is introduced through the Marine Recovery Fund (MRF). Where the required area of marine debris is not removed in whole or in part, the undertaker may apply to the Secretary of State to make a Marine Recovery Fund Payment pursuant to section 292 of the Energy Act 2023, substituting for the unachieved element of physical removal.
Any application to use the MRF must quantify the proportion of the original compensation relating to HHW SAC impacts that are shared with the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm via the shared cable corridor. It must also set out the amount of material already removed under the BIMP, net of any reductions already accounted for under the Norfolk Boreas consent.
Approval tests are explicit. The Secretary of State must be satisfied that use of the MRF as an adaptive measure is acceptable in principle, including the precise proportion of the original compensation that can be substituted. Defra, or any organisation operating the MRF, must confirm the fund can be used and provide a monetary quantification of the sums due in lieu.
Following approval of an MRF application, no cable installation within the HHW SAC may proceed until an implementation and monitoring plan has been submitted to and approved by the Secretary of State. In addition, the undertaker must be discharged from further obligations to deliver physical compensation measures in accordance with paragraph 39.
Paragraph 39 sets three routes to discharge: approval of a completion report by the Secretary of State; full payment of the agreed MRF sum with written confirmation that the payment satisfies compensation requirements; or entry into a contract to pay the agreed MRF sum by instalments, with the first payment made and written confirmation provided. Paragraph 40 clarifies that discharge under the instalment route does not remove the obligation to comply with the payment schedule.
Monitoring is strengthened. The substituted paragraph 32 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, proposals to address effectiveness must be provided and then implemented as approved.
Completion reporting is clarified. Subject to paragraph 35 (Marine Recovery Fund pathway) and paragraph 38(b), the undertaker must submit to the Secretary of State a report demonstrating completion of the BIMP activities within 12 months of completion.
In practical terms, the amendment codifies an alternative, fund-based route to discharge compensation obligations where physical marine debris removal cannot be achieved, while tightening the oversight framework. Project teams gain a defined approval and payment process with Defra confirmation, regulators gain annual performance reporting with corrective action provisions, and environmental governance remains anchored in Secretary of State decisions following consultation with the MMO and the statutory nature conservation body.