Date of issue: 22ndJuly 2016

MEAFORD ENERGY LIMTED GRANTED

DEVELOPMENT CONSENT ORDER FOR 299MWeGAS-FIRED CCGT POWER STATION

Meaford Energy Limited, a 50/50 joint venture between St. Modwen Properties PLC, the UK’s leading regeneration specialist and Glenfinnan, a property investment company with expertise in infrastructure and energy projects, has secured a Development Consent Order (DCO) from the Rt. Hon. Greg Clark MP, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for a £300m combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station with a generating capacity of upto 299 MWe.

To be delivered on 14 acres of land currently owned by St. Modwen, the new power station, to be known as the Meaford Energy Centre (MEC), is a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project,which secured a DCO after a thoroughthree-year process involving public consultation and examination by the Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the Government.

A third of the UK’s electricity output is produced by facilities which are due to close over the coming 10 years, however to meet increasing demand for power over the next 20 years, the Government predicts that an additional 50 GW of generating capacity is needed. CCGT power stations like the MEC use gas and steam to produce electricity flexibly and efficiently.Together with wind farms, solar parks and nuclear power stations, they form an important part of the new energy mix needed to meet the UK’s energy demands.

Daniel Chapman, Director of Meaford Energy Limited, said:

“To secure the DCO for this important national infrastructure project at Meaford is significant in terms of meeting the UK’s energy needs as set out in the National Energy Policy, as coal-fired power stations come offline and uncertainty increases over the delivery of new nuclear power plants”.

Rupert Wood, Director of Meaford Energy Limited and Regional Director for St. Modwen, said:

“Just as importantly, the MEC will also deliver the catalyst to progress the development of St. Modwen’sMeaford Business Park which already benefits from a planning permission to deliver 1m sq ft of employment space.

“Achieving this important milestone is further evidence of the joint venture partners’ deep expertise in successfully delivering highly complex planning consents. It also shows St. Modwen’s ability to identify innovative routes to market which create substantial long-term value for shareholders from our 6,000 acre land bank.

“Meaford Energy Limitedwill now focus on developing a plan of action that will deliver the project”.

As well as generating electricity, the power station will:

  • Provide 30 highly skilled permanent local jobs
  • Create up to 800 construction jobs over three years
  • Improve the area’s energy security, including providing an important source of energy to the planned Meaford Business Park.

-ENDS-

Enquiries:

Meaford Energy Limited

0800 319 6185

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Timeline of activity

Below is a short summary of the steps taken to date and of the application process:

  1. Non Statutory Consultation autumn 2013
  2. Statutory Consultation on detailed designs – summer 2014
  3. Application submitted to the Planning Inspectorate
  4. DCO Application reviewed by the Planning Inspectorate
  5. Pre-examination commences
  6. Public Examination conducted by the Planning Inspectorate
  7. Planning Inspectorate recommendation produced and given to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
  8. Decision from the Secretary of State

Consulting the community

Statutory consultation is undertaken as set out in the Planning Act 2008, which states how the community should be consulted on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) such as the Meaford Energy Centre.

Meaford Energy Limited organised its consultation in two stages. The first non-statutory stage which took place in October 2013 was aimed at introducing the community to its proposals, raise awareness of the plans, and obtain initial feedback. The statutory stage of consultation which ran between early June and early July 2014 included detailed designs of the Meaford Energy Centre in response to community feedback and detailed assessments conducted by various components of the project team.

Meaford Energy Limited –

Meaford Energy Limited is a 50/50 joint venture company between St. Modwen and Glenfinnan. St. Modwen’s extensive brownfield development and regeneration expertise, combined with Glenfinnan’s in depth and technical knowledge of the energy market, has created an ideal partnership; bringing together detailed planning and development experience with valuable technical knowledge to answer the increasing demand for alternative UK energy supplies in the most efficient way.

St. Modwen Properties PLC

St. Modwen is the UK’s leading regeneration specialist. The company operates across the full spectrum of the property industry from a network of regional offices, a residential business and through joint ventures with public sector and industry leading partners.

The Company is focused wholly upon regeneration with an outstanding 30 year track record of adding value by managing schemes through the planning process, remediating brownfield land and active asset management and development.

With extensive experience in dealing with complex and challenging sites, St. Modwen has a land bank of over 6,000 acres and is focused on the long-term development of commercial property and residential land.

St. Modwen’s £1.7bn national portfolio of over 100 projects includes; the regeneration of New Covent Garden Market, London; the transformation of Longbridge, Birmingham and the on-going regeneration of over 2,500 acres of former industrial land in South Wales which includes the delivery of the new £450m Bay Campus for Swansea University.

Glenfinnan

Glenfinnan is a property investment company with a long history in bringing forward large regeneration and infrastructure projects. These include:

Marchwood Industrial Park, Southampton – A 170-acre estate on which a gas fired power station and large energy from waste plant were consented and constructed plus a planning consent for 1,000,000 sq ft of B1, B2 and B8 accommodation.

Langley Park, Chippenham – A 48-acre business park on which we secured a mixed use planning consent for employment, residential, leisure and retail, in addition to increasing occupancy levels.

Glenfinnan also has extensive experience in infrastructure related projects in connection with the automotive logistics sector which involved the consenting and construction of rail terminals and car storage prior to distribution, across the UK including Oxford, Liverpool and Castle Bromwich.

Glenfinnan identifies sites that are considered suitable for energy development and has been involved in a number of energy projects across the UK including gas-fired power stations, Energy from Waste, anaerobic digestion for both food and farm waste and solar power projects.