Positive
Project advancing - milestone achieved
High Impact
Major milestone or critical setback
Northumberland County Council unanimously granted outline planning permission for Berwick Bank's Cambois Connection onshore transmission infrastructure in November 2024, authorising the onshore export cables, the onshore converter station and the associated grid connection works between the Cambois landfall (near Blyth) and the National Grid Blyth 400 kV substation. The Cambois connection will handle a substantial proportion of the 4.1 GW Berwick Bank project's export capacity (1.8 GW Transmission Entry Capacity at Blyth 400 kV from November 2029 per the 2024 NESO TEC contracts) via offshore HVDC export cables landing at Cambois, Northumberland. Project Director Alex Meredith described the decision as "a huge step forward", noting it followed the December 2023 East Lothian planning approval for the parallel Branxton onshore infrastructure and meant SSE Renewables now had onshore consents in place for both of Berwick Bank's grid connection points, leaving only the Section 36 offshore consent to await Scottish Government decision (subsequently granted 31 July 2025). The application had been submitted to Northumberland County Council in October 2023 under Section 57 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.