Proposals to construct Rampion 2 – an extension to the present Rampion wind farm – have been the topic of a profitable Growth Consent Order (DCO) utility. The plans will now be examined by the UK Authorities’s planning inspectorate.
CPRE Sussex mentioned it ‘backs an pressing transfer’ to renewable vitality sources and, ‘in precept, could be supportive of the delicate enlargement’ of the Rampion offshore wind farm.
Nonetheless, it has raised ‘main issues’ over how the general public session ‘has been run’ and the ‘affect on panorama and nature’ of onshore cabling and grid connection works.
The charity described the session as ‘poor’ and accused the builders of getting ‘an absence of respect’ for the encircling atmosphere.
Marketing campaign group Shield Coastal Sussex additionally expressed severe issues over the £3bn challenge, claiming that the event could be a ‘silent ecosystem killer’.
CPRE Sussex director Paul Steedman mentioned: “We have to swap from fossil fuels to renewable vitality as quick as doable and offshore wind could be a massive a part of that.
“It’s due to this fact significantly disappointing that the applicant for Rampion 2 has executed such a poor job of partaking with native folks and seems to favour comfort of engineering over respect for the atmosphere.”
The Rampion 2 Undertaking Crew has since issued an announcement, in response.
A spokesperson mentioned: “We’ve carried out an enormous programme of engagement and session over the previous three years, and have subsequently made modifications to the challenge proposals in response to suggestions from statutory consultees and the Sussex neighborhood, who we thank for his or her enter. Our ultimate cable route has taken this suggestions under consideration to finest meet the wants of native communities, wildlife and the atmosphere.
“Session on the Rampion 2 Offshore Wind Farm began in January 2021, adopted by a nine-week statutory project-wide session launched in July 2021, promoted by an enormous publicity marketing campaign which attracted 12,500 visits to the challenge web site internet hosting the session proposals.
“Following in depth suggestions from native communities and curiosity teams, an additional statutory onshore session was launched in October 2022 to discover potential cable route alternate options and modifications, which have been pushed by public suggestions mixed with ongoing engineering and environmental assessments. Particulars of our consultations could be discovered right here, https://rampion2.com/dco-2023-overview/.
“We’ve assessed the potential impacts and mitigations of our proposals on an array of points reminiscent of site visitors, panorama and wildlife, that are set out in our environmental assertion.
“The electrical energy cables will probably be buried underground, and the Rampion 2 crew is dedicated to reinstate the land again to its former situation as quickly as doable after the works, which features a ten-year monitoring plan to make sure profitable reinstatement.”
The charity has known as for the session course of to be ‘halted and restarted’ to make sure all affected communities have a ‘clear alternative to see detailed plans’.
Responding to the planning inspectorate session on the plans, CPRE Sussex ‘raised a number of issues’ together with: landowners and managers ‘not being appropriately notified of plans’; an absence of ‘balanced and efficient’ communication with native communities; ‘difficulties speaking’ with the proposers of Rampion 2; ‘needlessly damaging and disruptive’ onshore works and a ‘lack of expertise in regards to the affect’ on the historic village of Cowfold.
Mr Steedman added: “It’s with an intense sense of disappointment that we object to those proposals. It will not have been troublesome for these behind Rampion 2 to do higher on a number of facets of the proposal.”
