Advice to John Pennington
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- From
- John Pennington
- Date advice given
- 28 November 2013
- Enquiry type
Dear Sirs, I am writing to you as an individual John Pennington 10020174, and on behalf of TravelWatch Isle of Man 10020355.
Although I was unable to attend the Walney Extension Preliminary Meeting on 12 Nov 2013, I read in page 7 of the published notes that possible conflicts between the programmes of Walney Extension and Burbo Bank Extension were discussed, in order that you could take account of staffing resource implications for Natural England, who are engaged on both schemes.
As a matter of urgency, I wish to draw your attention to possible effects of Celtic Array's Irish Sea Zone (SE) Rhiannon programme on our resources which we need to devote to Walney Extension.
Celtic Array Ltd held its First Stage Public Consultation in Nov- Dec 2012, including Public Exhibition in Douglas, Isle of Man. TravelWatch Isle of Man submitted a detailed representation regarding Rhiannon's potential impact on the adverse weather route for the Isle of Man Steam Packet service between Douglas and Liverpool. Celtic Array indicated that they intended to publish their consultation report in early 2013, but it has not yet been issued. TravelWatch has not been able to obtain a response to their concerns from Celtic Array. On 30 Oct 2013, I emailed my Celtic Array contact to ask when we could expect to receive the consultation report, and to seek that we should have sufficient time to study it before the Second Stage Consultation. He emailed me on 20 Nov 2013 (ie after the Walney Extension Preliminary Meeting) and stated that he hoped ''Celtic Array will be in a position to publish the report prior to Christmas ... (or)! ! ...prior to our second stage of consultation. .... As regards our stage 2 consultation... not able to confirm exact dates.... It is planned for early 2014, and we will advise stakeholders when the dates have been finalised.''
Thus we and other Isle of Man interests could be faced with having to study and respond to Celtic Array's Rhiannon Consultation Report, and be actively involved in and responding to the Stage 2 Public Consultation / Exhibition process, at the very same time that we are busy with the Walney Extension Examination. We had not been able to raise this matter at the Walney Extension Preliminary Meeting on 12 Nov, as we had not then received Celtic Array's response re their timetable.
TravelWatch, as a voluntary organisation has limited resources, and Rhiannon will be particularly time-consuming for us as we are questioning Celtic Array's turbine spacing criteria and whether their (over) use of the Engineering / Rochdale envelope is resulting in a needlessly large Potential Development Area, with increased impact on navigation.
As Celtic Array have not yet published their Rhiannon dates, I request that the Walney Extension ExA and PI draw this matter to the attention of their PI colleagues overseeing Rhiannon, to seek to ensure that the Rhiannon programme does not conflict with Walney Extension Examination. It is particularly important that any 28 day response period(s) for Rhiannon are clear of the Walney Extension Examination.
I trust that you will be able to address this matter, and look forward to your response. Yours faithfully, John Pennington, FICE.
Advice given
See attached letter