Abstract
This is the Scoping Opinion (the Opinion) provided by the Secretary of State in respect of the content of the Environmental Statement for Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm located off the North Norfolk coast.
This report sets out the Secretary of State’s Opinion on the basis of the information provided in Dong Energy’s (‘the Applicant’) report entitled Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Report (‘the Scoping Report’). The Opinion can only reflect the proposals as currently described by the applicant.
The Secretary of State has consulted on the Scoping Report and the responses received have been taken into account in adopting this Opinion. The Secretary of State is satisfied that the topic areas identified in the Scoping Report encompass those matters identified in Schedule 4, Part 1, paragraph 19 of the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2009 (as amended).
The Secretary of State draws attention both to the general points and those made in respect of each of the specialist topic areas in this Opinion. The main potential issues identified are:
- Adequacy of baseline data,
- Scope of the cumulative effects assessment,
- Effects on benthic ecology,
- Effects on fish and shellfish
- Effects on marine mammals,
- Effects on offshore ornithology,
- Effects on marine archaeology,
- Effects on the seascape and visual resources,
- Effects on onshore ecology and nature conservation and
- Effects on the historic environment.
Matters are not scoped out unless specifically addressed and justified by the Applicant, and confirmed as being scoped out by the Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State notes the potential need to carry out an assessment under The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 (as amended) (the Habitats Regulations).