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Advice to Ian Giles

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Enquiry

From
Ian Giles
Date advice given
11 April 2013
Enquiry type
Email
  • Having seen your revised plans for the Navitus Bay windfarm my view is that it is an act of vandalism perpetrated upon one of the most attractive seascapes in the country. Any government allowing it to proceed will certainly forfeit my vote.

*The unsightly mess will unfortunately be visited upon us for generations to come and will despoil an important World Heritage Sight.

  • It is far too near the coast and closer than Government recommendations.

  • Furthermore, I object to the high cost and inefficiency of the project ? even before decommissioning costs of the individual turbines are fully taken into consideration.

I am not against wind farms in a suitable location [i.e. out of sight from areas of natural beauty] but this proposal is in the wrong place. In fact, it is hard to imagine a less suitable sight. I hope you will reconsider and abandon the project.

Advice given

As no formal application has yet been made to The Planning Inspectorate by the developer, the Navitus Bay Offshore Wind Farm scheme is at its 'Pre-Application' stage. Please note that the developer is expected to submit its application in Quarter 1 of 2014.

Until the application is submitted, your first point of contact should be the developer. Taking part by commenting at this stage does not prejudice your ability to make comments to the Planning Inspectorate on the scheme later in the process. Therefore you should inform the developer about your concerns as soon as possible and allow time for a response. In this instance I note you have already contacted the developer and as such at this stage of the Planning Act 2008 process I would encourage you to continue to correspond directly with them.

Should the application be formally submitted, the Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the Secretary of State has a 28 day period to determine whether to accept the application to progress to Examination. If the application progresses to Examination, the process then asks people to register as an ?Interested Party? with the Planning Inspectorate by sending us a 'Relevant Representation' about the proposal. This Representation will be considered by the appointed Examining Authority during the Examination period.

The Planning Inspectorate has produced several advice notes to help provide an overview of the Planning Act 2008 process and the opportunities to get involved. These are available at the following link: http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/legislation-and-advice/advice-notes/ . In this instance I recommend the advice note eight series - 'How to get involved in the planning process'.