Green Light for Another Giant Offshore Wind Farm

The Rampion Offshore wind farm has been given development consent by the UK's Department for Energy and Climate Change.

The decision supports the recommendation made by the Planning Inspectorate and follows an examination process which met or exceeded all the statutory timescales laid down in the Planning Act 2008 (as amended by the Localism Act 2011).

The application was submitted for consideration on 1 March 2013 and accepted for examination on 25 March 2013.

Following a six month examination during which the public, statutory consultees and interested parties were given the opportunity to give evidence to the Examining Authority, a recommendation was made to the Energy Secretary on 17 April 2014.

Planning Inspectorate’s Chief Executive, Simon Ridley, said. “This is a significant application for the offshore wind energy sector and required a Panel of three Examining Inspectors who were given the task of considering the evidence put to them by the interested parties.”

“A major priority for us over the course of the examination was to ensure that communities who might be affected by this proposal had the opportunity to put forward their views.”

The decision, the recommendation made by the Panel to the Secretary of State and the evidence considered by the Examining Authority in reaching its decision, is publicly available on the National Infrastructure Planning website.