Representation by Great Yarmouth Borough Council (Great Yarmouth Borough Council)
- Date submitted
- 14 November 2022
- Submitted by
- Local authorities
Thank you for notifying Great Yarmouth Borough Council on the acceptance for a Development Consent Order (DCO) in relation to the Sheringham Shoal & Dudgeon Extension Projects. Please accept this officer level representation, made in the response to Section 56 of the 2008 Planning Act. General Comments The Council strongly supports the aims and ambitions of both offshore windfarm extension projects, which are consistent with contributing towards national renewable energy targets and objectives. The port of Great Yarmouth remains the Operations & Maintenance (O&M) base for Equinor’s existing Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, as well as being at the forefront of assembly for other windfarm projects including Galloper, East Anglia ONE and Scroby Sands, drawing upon over 50 years of Southern North Sea offshore energy expertise. Great Yarmouth is designated as a Centre for Offshore Renewable Engineering (CORE), recognised for its deep water port, skills, supply chain and supported by strong leadership from both New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and Great Yarmouth Borough Council to deliver rapid growth within the offshore wind sector. In 2021 Great Yarmouth was awarded Town Deal funding by the UK Government to unlock further growth and inward investment in the energy sector through the development of a new O&M Campus and business incubator facilities around the port and South Denes area. In September 2022, planning permission was granted to provide both highway and marine infrastructure to support the future O&M campus. Construction of the campus facilities will commence in January 2023 and complete in January 2024. Great Yarmouth, therefore, remains poised to continue to offer significant opportunities in the growth of the clean energy sector. Specific Comments Broadly speaking the Council has no major objections to the proposed routing of the onshore cabling with respect of: the proposed landfall point at Weybourne; the proposed onshore cabling corridor; nor the proposed location of the onshore substation that has been offered by National Grid at Norwich Main Substation, as these all lie outside of the Council’s administrative boundary. Notwithstanding this, every effort should be made to ensure that any proposed impact upon the environment are reduced or where this is not possible, suitable mitigation measures are put in place. To this effect, the Council supports Equinor’s preferred approach which aims to develop both windfarm extensions and their associated infrastructure and grid connections in an integrated and wholistic manner, as such an approach will reduce the likely scale and impact of the combined construction works.