Representation by Tarmac Marine Ltd (Tarmac Marine Ltd)
- Date submitted
- 30 October 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Tarmac Marine owns and operates four marine aggregate dredgers that extract sands and gravels from areas of seabed offshore southern Britain, licensed by the Crown Estate and the Marine Management Organisation. The Rampion 2 windfarm extension project is proposed to extend immediately to the south and west of two of Tarmac Marine's licensed areas, areas 396 and 488. Our concern at the outset was that our dredging operations would be compromised if turbines, sub-stations or other infrastructure were placed too close to the boundary of area 396 or 488. Over the past year or so, we have engaged in discussions with the RWE Renewables representatives, resulting in an undertaking that turbines and substations would be placed at sufficient distance from areas 396 & 488 so as not to cause undue risk of allision, with due allowance made for the direction of the tidal streams. To illustrate this undertaking, RWE Renewables has provided us recently with three charts (Category 2 Plans: Offshore Works Plans, August 2023 Revision A ref. 2.2.1) that depict the envelope of where turbines, substations and cables could be located in relation to our licensed areas. We also note that electricity transmission cables could be laid close to areas 396 and 488 but that these will be accurately charted and buried in the seabed to a depth of over one metre. Tarmac Marine is satisfied that the Rampion 2 offshore windfarm proposals will not affect licensed aggregate dredging operations in areas 396 and 488 or cause undue risk of allision by a dredger with fixed structures, based on the proposed locations of the infrastructure. We wish to be consulted in due course on the precise turbine and substation array, should windfarm consent be granted, and would also wish to be consulted on the location and burial depth of cables in the offshore consent order areas.