BEIS OPRED has published a notification for all relevant Operators and Consultees.
Prior to submission of an Environmental Statement (ES) to The Secretary of State (OPRED), Developers are required to contact OPRED to be assigned an unique reference number which will then be utilised in all correspondence and submissions associated with the ES. OPRED has simplified the numbering system such that from 1 January 2022 all new reference numbers will have the prefix “ES”.
For example ES/2022/001.
Any reference numbers which have already been assigned should continue to be used but any new requests submitted for reference numbers from 1 January 2022 will use the new numbering system.
Source: BEIS OPRED.