Representation by Francis John Rodney Brown
- Date submitted
- 25 October 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The central point of this Comment is that continued protection of the South Downs National Park and the Seven Sisters Heritage Coast should be a Principal Issue in this process. The proposal has a considerable impact on the Coastline, and in particular on one of the National Parks, which are specified in the Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment as being sensitive receptors that should be protected by means of visual buffers in the form of separation distancing of offshore Turbines. NPS (2011) states “There is potential for capacity extensions to existing wind farm leases within UK waters. However, this will require careful, site-specific evaluation through the planning process, since significant new information on sensitivities and uses of these areas has become available… …Applicants should set out how they have drawn on the Government’s Offshore Energy SEA in making their site selection” The 2023 draft NPS states “In proposing sites for offshore wind, NSIP applicants should demonstrate that their choice of site takes into account the government’s Offshore Energy SEA 4 and any successors to it.” The proposals for Rampion 2 fail to respect the OSEA recommendations at the most basic level. The OSEA Recommendations take account of the importance and value of National Parks and Heritage Coastlines, and should be applied without any relaxation. The proposal for the Rampion 2 Turbine Field will in fact have an impact on the entire east to west extent of the South Downs National Park, which includes a length of Heritage Coast that has actually superseded the White Cliffs of Dover in the Public Imagination as an Iconic Image of Englishness. Although the promoters of the scheme believe that households further than 100 metres from the shore would not feel any impact, it is of course abundantly clear that the array will cause a dramatic change in the seascape, day and night, that will frequently be visible all the way up to the summit of the South Downs National Park. National Park Status is not lightly granted. When National Park Status is granted, by common consensus the population and its representatives are agreeing to protect and conserve the qualities of a landscape. This is a serious, heavy, responsibility, and it is very troubling to see this proposal trying to minimise and play down the adverse effects of the proposal, and to over-state the benefits. The central purpose of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act is to protect Landscapes and, where applicable, Seascapes, against exactly this kind of degradation. The Rampion 2 proposal fails to meet standards recommended by the OSEA. The Rampion 1 scheme also failed to respect the concerns of the National Park Authority, but is being used as an acceptable precedent. Failure to respect the OSEA recommended standards will seriously undermine to whole principle behind the National Parks movement and legislation.