Cory Environmental Holdings Limited (CEHL) instructed Ardent in 2018 to deliver land services to support them in obtaining powers to construct, operate and maintain an integrated energy park.

As well as the acquisition of the main site, the project needed to be able to connect the energy generated from CEHL’s power station in Belvedere to the National Grid station at Dartford. The Development Consent Order (DCO) was submitted in November 2018 and Accepted by PINS in January 2019.

As part of the acquisition strategy led by Ardent, we identified specific areas along the cable route that fell outside of the adopted highway, where we needed to acquire either the freehold interest or acquire an easement over the land. Leading up to the project application, Ardent led on the land referencing, producing the Book of Reference and Land Plans, and led on the land agency work to acquire the necessary land and rights required for the project.

The examination period for the project began in April 2019. Ardent acted as the land expert along with delivering the following key services;

• Engaged with affected landowners at the Riverside Energy Park (REP) and along the cable route;
• Negotiated and entered into agreement with all the necessary interests at the REP site;
• Entered into an Option Agreement with the majority of affected landowners along the cable route;
• Revised the Red Line Boundary (RLB) as required. Updated plans and updated the Book of Reference (BoR);
• Working closely alongside CEHL and their legal representatives Pinsent Masons, replying to the Relevant Representations (RRs) and Written Representations (WRs);
• After engagement with landowners we were able to remove the majority of property related objections;
• Drafted and issued Option Agreements to affected landowners;
• Attended the Compulsory Acquisition Hearings;
• Drafted and agreed a Statement of Common Ground (SoCG) for specific land owners where required by the ExA.
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Since Ardent’s instruction in April 2018, we have supported Cory in a number of ways from land referencing, through landowner engagement and onto concluding landowner agreements. This included assisting the client through a challenging examination period, which closed on 10th October, 2019. Throughout our instruction we supported Cory by utilising our specialist industry leading knowledge of the DCO process and working as part of the wider team to deliver this EFW project to PINS, culminating in a successful DCO consent on 9th April, 2020.