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Advice to Navitus Bay Development Limited

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Enquiry

From
Navitus Bay Development Limited
Date advice given
12 December 2013
Enquiry type
Phone

For the landscape and visual assessment, can consented projects that have not yet been constructed be included in the baseline or can they be included in the cumulative assessment?

Advice given

I refer you to Appendix 3 of the Infrastructure Planning Commission scoping opinion for the proposed Navitus Bay Wind Park (November 2011) which contained advice on assessing cumulative impacts. The Scoping Opinion states that the potential cumulative impacts with other major developments should be identified, and the significance of such impacts should be shown to have been assessed against the baseline position (which would include built and operational development). The advice continues to provide a list of project types to be considered in a cumulative assessment and includes permitted applications that have not yet been implemented. On this basis, the Planning Inspectorate advises that consented but not yet built projects are addressed in the cumulative assessment and are not included in the baseline.

I also refer you to Advice Note 10 (September 2013); whilst this advice note is specifically for Habitats Regulations Assessment, it contains a revised list of project types that the Planning Inspectorate considers are also relevant to EIA cumulative assessments.

Whilst it is for the applicant to determine their assessment methodology, the Planning Inspectorate strongly advises that you follow and clearly reference in the Environmental Statement (ES) any relevant guidance. We recommend that you agree your methodology for determining the baseline and assessing impacts with relevant consultees (for landscape and visual assessment this would likely include, but not be limited to, relevant local planning authorities and Natural England). Where you have such agreements these should be clearly documented in the ES. Should you depart from the advice provided within the Scoping Opinion or from consultees then we strongly recommend that you provide justification for doing so within your ES.