We’re still in the very early stages of developing Hornsea Project Three, and are still scoping out the details of what the project will look like and where things will potentially go both onshore and offshore. We’re building up to apply for a Development Consent Order (DCO), the main consent application that is issued, which we hope to be able to submit in 2018. This is something that all Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) have to apply for and is basically the means by which much needed energy infrastructure gains permission to be built. Our application will be examined and the final decision given by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
During this pre-application stage we consider how best to implement the project, including everything from where cables will be buried onshore to what the actual layout of the windfarm will potentially look like.
In order to minimise disturbance to the community including landowners, fishermen and residents, we’re trying to get people’s views as early as possible in the project development, so these can be taken into account as we refine our plans. We set out how we plan to consult with communities in our Statement of Community Consultation and we’ve already held a series of public Community Consultation events last year, which I attended. I can state both personally and on behalf of the project, it was really great to meet local people and understand how the project might affect them. One of the key elements of these events is understanding concerns, hearing about local issues we may not previously have been aware of and taking these away to consider how we can amend our proposal to reduce impacts and concerns where possible.
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of working with the community at this stage. We will listen to your comments and where possible integrate these. I want to stress that nothing has been decided yet, so if people do have concerns now is the time to get in touch and let us know.
We’ve just announced another round of events in early March 2017 so I hope again to meet many people there and talk about the project with them and how this has changed since the last series of events in late 2016. In the meantime if you want to get in touch, there are plenty of ways to do so and we welcome any questions or comments on the project.
Until next time…