Thresholds for extending projects
3.—(1) Where the project under consideration is an extending project—
(a)the thresholds specified in the Table in paragraph 2 shall not apply; and
(b)the threshold applicable for that project for the purposes of regulation 3(3) shall be instead such balance (if any), in hectares, of the area specified in Column 2 or, as the case may be, Column 3 in that Table opposite the entry in Column 1 for that type of project as remains after deduction of the accumulated material past project area.
(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(b), it is immaterial whether any part of the accumulated material past project area is, or is not, in a sensitive area (or any kind of sensitive area).
(3) In this paragraph—
“extending project” means any project covering, or proposed to cover, land adjoining the area of one or more material past projects;
“material past project”, in relation to a particular extending project, means a project which—
is of the same type (as specified in regulation 3(2)) as that extending project; and
was completed after the coming into operation of these Regulations; and
was completed not more than five years before the proposed date for starting the work relating to that extending project;
“accumulated material past project area”, in relation to a particular extending project, means the total area covered by—
the material past project or, if more than one, all of them; and
every other project—
whose area adjoins the material past project, or one of them; and
which satisfies conditions (a) to (c) in the definition of “material past project”.