NNDC Opens Public Consultation on Egmere Development for Offshore Wind (UK)

Public consultation opened on Monday 21 January on North Norfolk District Council’s (NNDC) proposals to designate 28 hectares of land at Egmere, to the west of Walsingham and south of Wells-next-the-Sea, as suitable for companies supporting offshore wind energy schemes off the north Norfolk coast to locate their operations.

The council is seeking to establish a simplified planning regime, known as a Local Development Order (LDO), over the area and is inviting public comment on the proposals. The consultation runs from 21 January to Friday 15 March 2013.

Full details of the proposal and consultation process can be viewed on the NNDC website northnorfolk.org and by following the links to the Egmere LDO proposal. Copies of the consultation leaflet are available from NNDC, Wells Harbour Commissioners, Fakenham Connect and at Wells and Fakenham libraries.

Members of the public will be able to see plans of the proposals at Wells Methodist Church Hall, Theatre Street, Wells, between 3pm and 7pm on Monday 4 February. The exhibition will be followed by a presentation and question and answer session with officers and Members of NNDC at that evening’s meeting of Wells-next-the-Sea Town Council, also in the Methodist Church Hall.

The plans will also be available to view in Walsingham Village Hall between 3pm and 7pm on Monday 25 February, followed by a presentation and question and answer session at the meeting of Walsingham Parish Council, also in the Village Hall.

NNDC has sent letters to all owners and occupiers of residential properties in the vicinity of the proposed LDO and to town and parish councils in the B1105 corridor inviting them to submit comments.

Tom FitzPatrick, Leader of NNDC, and Member for Walsingham, which includes the proposed LDO area, said: “This council is determined to secure as many economic and employment benefits from offshore wind energy developments in north Norfolk as possible, and one way of doing this is to create and promote a positive environment for inward investment by wind energy companies and their sub-contractors.

“The proposed designation of an LDO at Egmere, situated where it is, outside the Norfolk Coast AONB, but close to the Port of Wells and on the strategically important B1105 linking Fakenham and Wells, is a key element of the Council’s ‘offer’ to such investors.

“We would welcome comments on the LDO proposal and will certainly consider all the representations before deciding whether to continue with the proposal in either its currently proposed or amended form; and any proposal will also need the endorsement of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.”

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Press release, January 23, 2013; Image: RWE