The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has issued a short correction order for the Mona Offshore Wind Farm consent, tidying drafting errors in the development consent made in July. Listed as S.I. 2025/1123 on legislation.gov.uk, the fix is procedural and aims to keep the consent legally robust as the project moves toward delivery.

Schedule 4 of the Planning Act 2008 allows the Secretary of State to correct an error or omission in a development consent order if a request is made within the ‘relevant period’ and each relevant local planning authority is informed. This mechanism edits the legal instrument without reopening the planning merits, ensuring the document reads as intended for implementation.

Mona’s original order was made on 4 July 2025 and came into force on 28 July 2025. It authorises an offshore wind farm about 28 kilometres off the North Wales coast, plus the onshore transmission works to connect into National Grid’s Bodelwyddan substation-setting the legal frame for construction and operation.

Project details remain unchanged: Mona has a potential capacity of around 1.5GW, with up to 96 turbines. The government has described it as the largest planned scheme in the Irish Sea-expected to power more than one million homes once operational.

Orders correcting drafting points are common in the nationally significant infrastructure regime. Recent examples include the Hornsea Four Offshore Wind Farm (Correction) Order 2024 and the Heckington Fen Solar Park (Correction) Order 2025-routine housekeeping to fix cross‑references or text, not to change the project.

With development consent secured on 4 July 2025, the developer’s timeline points to a final investment decision in 2026/27 and potential grid connection in 2029, targeting first power before decade’s end. A clean, corrected consent helps limit legal risk around certified plans and requirements as contracts and financing lock in.

Market conditions are also shifting to support build‑out. This summer the government extended Contracts for Difference terms for offshore wind from 15 to 20 years, and earlier consulted on easing certain planning‑consent timing rules for CfD eligibility-steps aimed at giving investors more certainty and speeding deployment.

Even so, consent timelines remain tight. Research published by the Offshore Wind Industry Council with Deloitte found recent reforms have shaved months rather than years off consenting, while the Institution of Civil Engineers notes development can take up to a decade before construction begins. Administrative fixes like today’s won’t solve everything, but they help projects keep momentum.

National targets add urgency. The government’s Clean Power 2030 plan sets a 43–50GW offshore wind range for 2030, and the National Energy System Operator’s Pathway to 2030 aims to unlock 23GW via coordinated grid build that cuts costs and seabed disturbance. Clear, correct consents help projects plug into that pipeline without delay.

For communities in Conwy and Denbighshire-and for UK suppliers-the correction order is administrative but practical: it clarifies the exact wording that will govern construction and environmental management. It sits alongside the developer’s separate proposed changes to access and construction areas now being prepared for submission, giving local partners a clearer view of what’s coming.