UK Planning Inspectorate to Consider Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm Soon

RPS has confirmed that the UK Planning Inspectorate will be holding the Preliminary Meeting for Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm on the 10^th of December 2013.

Hornsea Project One, comprises up to 332 offshore wind turbines in the North Sea located103km from Yorkshire Coastline, 140km of offshore cable coming ashore at Horseshoe Point, Lincolnshire, and 40km of onshore cable to a new HVDC converter / HVAC substation which in turn will connect to an existing National Grid 400kV substation at North Killingholme.

RPS is providing the environmental and planning support for this development, the first offshore wind farm in the Round 3 Hornsea Zone.

RPS completed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and prepared supporting documents for the Development Consent Order (DCO) application.

“Minimising and mitigating against harmful effects on the environment, local communities and marine users has been the principal objective throughout the EIA process” advised Corinna Demmar, Senior Director at RPS. “Extensive public consultation and engagement with all of the stakeholders has been key to our approach for the DCO preparation under the Planning Act 2008,” added David Cowan, Regional Managing Director at RPS.

“We developed an Environmental Statement containing a proposal for all the onshore cables to be buried underground. The laying of cables is planned to minimise excessive construction traffic movements and special precautions will be taken to ensure that topsoil and subsoil are reinstated and all arable land can continue to be farmed as normal. A landscape strategy has been developed to minimise potential visual impacts of the converter/substation.” added Corinna.

The Project One application, comprising 176 documents, was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on the 30th July. The application was accepted for examination on the 22nd of August and registration of interested parties closed on the 23^rd of October. A decision by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is expected in early 2015.

RPS is currently supporting the production of the Statements of Common Ground and preparing for examination. The Preliminary Meeting will set the timetable for examination.

Consents Manager for SMart Wind, Chris Jenner, stated: “The support that RPS has provided to SMart Wind for such a challenging project has, as always, been both professional and personable.”

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Press release, November 21, 2013; Image: SMart Wind