Advice to Middleton-on- Sea Coastal Alliance 'MOSCA'
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- From
- Middleton-on- Sea Coastal Alliance 'MOSCA'
- Date advice given
- 11 February 2022
- Enquiry type
Dear Planning Inspectorate, Pre-Application Case Reference EN010117:- Application by RWE Rampion 2 for Development Control Order 'DCO' acceptance imminently to be lodged with the Planning Inspectorate PINS We understand detailed Plans will be submitted to yourselves shortly by RWE/Rampion 2 for adjudication on whether the application meets the required standards for Development Control Order 'DCO' Acceptance/Approval 1. We submit that the RWE/Rampion 2 Consultation that closed on the 16th September 2021 does not comply with the 'Adequacy of Consultation Statement' and request for it to be declared 'Flawed' and therefore 'Void' and consequently inadmissible for DCO Adjudication, at least until this matter has been properly addressed by RWE/Rampion 2 to the satisfaction of all parties concerned and particularly of those disenfranchised' by the Consultation Process. The evidence provided in the paragraphs below demonstrates clearly RWE/Rampion 2 failed to carry out their obligations to provide all people and groups with property in the Coastal Area (Zone 3) by mail of the formal community consultation and how people could have their say as prescribed in the Applicant's statutory Community Consultation' (SoCC) requirements that states: "Those persons or groups whose property is within 100 meters of the Sussex Coast line between Beachy Head and Selsey Bill, and eastern coastline of the Isle of Wight between Seaview and Ventnor will be consulted". Please find below evidence in support of our claims mentioned above:- Attached, Press article as appeared in the Middleton on Sea Parish Council Magazine 'Middleton News' of Autumn 2021 that sets out the 'Parish Councils reasons for OBJECTING to Rampion 2 Wind Farm Proposals. Specifically, refer to the last three paragraphs on page 3 of this attachment under heading RAMPION 2 - 'Formal Consultation Document Issues' . This is clear and self-explanatory. For quick reference from the 3 paragraphs we note the salient information:- "It would appear that a large number of households who would be included under Zone 3 have not received any information from RWE in respect of Rampion 2 and therefore the consultation has not met its requirements and the formal consultation deadline of the 16th September 2021 needs to be extended for a further 6 weeks to enable these householders to review the proposals for Rampion 2 and to decide if they wish to support or object to the project". Further details regarding the Flawed Consultation. RWE/Rampion 2 failed to organise a single Public 'face to face' event giving fair consultation time, where the attendees could seriously engage with Rampion 2 Personnel to be able to explore in depth the Rampion 2 'broad brush' proposals and express their views on an informed basis. Instead a Public meeting had to be convened by the Middleton on Sea Parish Council (MOSPC) that was held on the 25th August 2021 just 21 days before the Consultation closing date of 16 September 2021, where the majority of Residents present, angrily publicly complained to Rampion 2 managers present by agreement by video link they had only just learnt about Rampion 2 Proposals from the notices they had seen regarding the Public meeting and their failure to distribute consultation leaflets in the Zone 3 Coastal Area to all properties entitled to be consulted. As such a significant number of affected Residents were unaware and prevented from having the opportunity to have a say on an informed basis on the RWE/Rampion 2 proposal. As a consequence of pressure from the public, RWE/Rampion 2, by Video link, stated they would have Royal Mail investigate. Very significantly despite repeated requests from the Middleton on Sea Parish Council and others there has been no response to date. The same applies to the provision of CGI images from shore at Middleton on Sea and Elmer Beach looking directly at the horizon and therefore at the Turbines/Wind Farm. RWE/Rampion 2 has now replied to MOSPC on the latter over 4 months after the original request by Cllr J Pendleton and a further 5 requests by them. Their answer is cursory and implies in their view the request is not worthy of such expenditure. The Consultation Process was started during full lockdown on the 14th of July to run only to 16th September 2021. Without reasonable access the publicity of the public survey was poor and by the time local public meetings, Littlehampton and Middleton on Sea, were arranged the time was short to engage with the project and ‘get to grips’ with the survey. These were organised by the Parish Councils not RWE/Rampion2 to give the public access to RWE/Rampion 2 through a zoom discussion. The Consultation was not inclusive. It did not allow for sight impaired residents taking part, nor written letters being accepted as official survey comments. We have proof of residents who have not received replies by RWE/Rampion 2 even sending a recorded delivery document with covering letter for confirmation that their survey (sight impaired) had been received and therefore requesting it recorded as part of the process. No such reply received. Surveys were required to be filled in online which, in area of older residents, made the number of replies less likely. Those surveys had to be double-confirmed as proof of identity which was not made clear in the document – we have confirmed information of residents who failed to confirm their survey. Difficulties speaking to Rampion 2 on the phone about filling in the survey were many including replies of ‘we are EON and have no knowledge of the detail of the windfarm project’ – we have proof of this. The survey process was repetitive, over technical it appeared to deter completion particularly as there was little time to check or query – we have proof of this. Difficulties and delays contacting RWE/Rampion 2 on the number given in the Consultation Document about filling in the survey were many, including replies of ‘we are EON and have no knowledge of the detail of the windfarm project’ – we have proof of this 2. The outcome of a recent survey of a sample of 25 Households along Sea Way Middleton-on -Sea, evidenced that 21 Households spectacularly confirmed that they had not received any documentation from Rampion 2 with information on the proposed Rampion project or the consultation. Of the remaining 4 households- 2 did not respond and 2 were New Residents. Please find attached a copy of email requests sent to the 25 households requesting their confirmation by email. Consequently we have in our possession their responses that we would be happy to share with you at the appropriate time. This survey was undertaken due to the amount of complaints made by residents at the MOSPC Public meeting of 1st September 2021 that they had not been informed by Rampion of the Rampion 2 proposal, nor had any of the promises Rampion made at the meeting been honoured, despite repeated requests by MOSPC. (i.e. for Royal Mail investigations and provision of CGI images). Subsequently based on our researched information The Chief Executives of Arun, Horsham , Mid Sussex and West Sussex County Councils that 'signed off' the statement of Community Consultation as published by Rampion 2 were notified that the consultation conducted by RWE/Rampion 2 was 'flawed' by Protect Coastal Sussex. Our research was distributed with permission granted to Protect Coastal Sussex and other similar organisations to publish. The above communication was copied to Nick Gibb MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton; Andrew Griffith MP for Arundel and South Downs; and Sir Peter Bottomley MP for Worthing West (who have all expressed concerns over the location for the Rampion 2). In addition the following were all copied into the complaint: Gillian Keegan MP for Chichester; Henry Smith MP for Crawley; Tim Loughton MP for East Worthing & Shoreham; Jeremy Quin MP for Horsham; Mims Davies MP for Mid Sussex and Hefin Jones, Planning Inspectorate. Please acknowledge receipt of this Communication and let us know should you require any additional proof of information or clarifications. Yours sincerely, Melanie Jones Middleton-on- Sea Coastal Alliance 'MOSCA'
Advice given
Dear Melanie Jones (on behalf of Middleton-on- Sea Coastal Alliance 'MOSCA') Thank you for your email of 31 January 2022. The application you refer to has not yet been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate (Inspectorate). It is currently at the ‘Pre-application’ stage of the process and is due to be submitted to the Inspectorate in Quarter 3 2022. The Pre-application consultation process is entirely led by the Applicant, Rampion Extension Development Limited, who are responsible for ensuring that they comply with the legislative requirements surrounding consultation which are set out in s49(2) of the Planning Act 2008. When an application is formally submitted to the Inspectorate for Examination, an assessment is made on whether it is of a satisfactory standard to proceed to an Examination. One key element of this assessment is to check whether the Applicant has fulfilled its statutory consultation duties. In order to help make an informed decision on this matter the Inspectorate writes to all relevant local authorities for their views on the adequacy of the consultation carried out by the Applicant. The Applicant is also statutorily required to demonstrate in its submitted application where they have shown regard to responses received during their period of statutory consultation. The Applicant carried out statutory consultation between 14 July and 16 September 2021 and as explained above is under a duty to have regard any relevant responses received under s49(2) of the Planning Act 2008 (PA2008) and this should be demonstrated in their Consultation Report which will form part of the application documents for Development Consent. The Applicant has also recently re-opened formal consultation which runs from 7 February to 11 April 2022. Information on this and the documents can be found on the consultation section on the Applicants website. I would advise, if you have not already done so, that it is important that you make your comments directly to the developer. Please note that the Inspectorate is unable to consider representations about the merits of any application until it is accepted for Examination. The Inspectorate also does not have the power to intervene in an Applicant’s pre-application programme. The process for applying for a Development Consent Order (DCO) is set out in the PA2008 and the timing of an application’s pre-application programme is at the discretion of the Applicant. If you feel your comments are not being taken into account by the Applicant, may I advise you to write to the relevant local authority, West Sussex County Council/ Arun District Council, and set out why you think the Applicant is failing to conduct its consultation properly. Your comments should be taken into account when the local authority sends the Inspectorate its comments on whether the Applicant has fulfilled its statutory consultation duties. The local authority’s comments on the Applicant’s consultation will be taken into account when the Acceptance Inspector makes their decision on whether to accept the application for Examination. In order to assist parties in understanding the Planning Act 2008 process, the Planning Inspectorate has prepared a suite of Advice Notes. In particular, Advice Note 8 of the series provides an overview for members of the public of the Examination of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. If you have any further queries about the National Infrastructure process please do not hesitate to contact me and the Inspectorate’s Rampion 2 Case team.