Ørsted is committed to making a positive impact in the communities where we construct and operate our offshore wind farms and other projects. Ørsted has therefore committed to providing a Community Benefit Fund (CBF), worth £700,000 each year for an initial 10-year period from our Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm development. The CBF is still subject to Ørsted making a positive Final Investment Decision (FID) to develop the project which is expected in late 2022.
GrantScape has been appointed to carry out a community consultation exercise to seek views and support from local stakeholders on how this new Fund should be set up.
Ørsted already provides funding to the East Coast Community Fund (ECCF) via donations from Hornsea One and Race Bank offshore wind farms. This Fund has already awarded over £2.2M to 170 community and environmental projects over the past 5 years and helped to make a real impact for those living within the coastal funding zone. The ECCF boundary follows a coastal strip from Bridlington in East Yorkshire to Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. You can view this Fund by clicking here.
The boundary for the proposed Hornsea 3 Community Fund will start at the Lincolnshire/Norfolk County boundary and follow along a 5km coastal strip to just south of Lowestoft in Suffolk. It will also include the proposed cable route. Therefore, communities located in the current ECCF funding area in Norfolk will be able to apply to the Hornsea 3 Community Fund, when this area becomes part of the newly proposed Hornsea 3 Community Fund area.
What is the purpose of the consultation?
The criteria for the ECCF was established following an extensive community consultation process back in 2016. The results of the consultation helped to shape the criteria, and over the years these have proven to work well. Application quality and numbers have remained consistently high over the five years that the fund has been running.
It is proposed that the Hornsea 3 Community Fund follows a similar approach to the ECCF in terms of the types of projects it supports. The purpose of the consultation is therefore to ask local stakeholders whether they agree with, and are supportive of (or not), continuing along the same funding themes for the new Hornsea 3 Community Fund.
These themes are:
- Community Actives and Services
- Community Buildings and Facilities
- Sports and Recreation Activities
- Environmental and Wildlife Project as well as Public Open Spaces
- STEM Education and Skills grants
The consultation is also asking for views about the size of grants, match funding and whether the fund should support capital and / or revenue grants.
Who do we want to receive views from?
We are looking for views from individuals, voluntary and community organisations, local charities, sports and wildlife groups, parish councils, elected councillors, local authorities, educational establishments, etc. that are located in, or may be delivering projects within, the defined benefit area shown in the map above.
If you are located outside of the proposed area, you are very welcome to participate. However, please do note that the boundary itself is not open to consultation. This is because both Ørsted and GrantScape are keen to continue a consistent approach for all of the Ørsted Community Funds whereby the funding supports the coastal communities within a defined 5km zone and any onshore infrastructure (including the Parish of Oulton).
What is involved in the consultation?
Details of times and venues of the events will be published on this site by the end of October 2022.
Information gathered throughout the consultation process will be used to finalise the criteria for the Fund. We expect the Fund will go ‘live’ to applications in the Summer 2023.
Consultation timeline
August - November 2022
December - January 2023
February - March 2023
April 2023
May - June 2023
August 2023
August - November 2022 August - November 2022
Stage 1
Online survey
December 2022 - January 2023 December - January 2023
Stage 2
1 to 1 meetings with key stakeholders.
February - March 2023 February - March 2023
Stage 3
Public exhibition events
April 2023 April 2023
Consultation Summary Report will be published.
May - June 2023 May - June 2023
Advisory Group Panel formed.
August 2023 August 2023
Fund goes live and accepts applications.
Why is the funding area for the ECCF changing?
The ECCF has an Advisory Panel of local voluntary representatives stretching from Bridlington to North Norfolk. To simply extend the ECCF boundary and include the new Hornsea 3 CBF within it would not only create an Advisory Panel too big in number to manage but might risk each area not having sufficient local representation.
The two panel members currently representing the ECCF within Norfolk (Community Action Norfolk and King's Lynn and West Norfolk District Council) will be the first two names on the Hornsea 3 Community Fund Panel.
Frequently Asked Questions
We have a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ page which will hopefully have the answers to any of your other questions. They include general questions as well as specific questions if you are located within the current ECCF benefit area or have a live project with the current Fund. If there is a specific question not provided, you are very welcome to contact GrantScape directly.
Read the Community Benefit Fund FAQs
Hornsea 3 Community Benefit Fund consultation drop-in & virtual events
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We currently have no upcoming events scheduled.
Calendar will be updated soon.
Contact details
If you would like to be added to our mailing list for further updates on the consultation and the Hornsea 3 Community Fund please send an email to hornseathree@grantscape.org.uk.
You are also very welcome to call us on 01908 247630 between 9am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.
You can also subscribe to our 3-monthly Hornsea 3 community newsletter by completing the below form:
Development enquires
If you have any questions about the Hornsea Three development itself, please direct them to: community@hornsea3.co.uk or call 0800 158 2354.
