Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind: Notification of compulsory acquisition hearing and issue specific hearings 

Summary of the Project

The Application is for development consent for the construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind, Farm, an offshore wind generating station located approximately 54 km east of the Lincolnshire coastline in the southern North Sea, together with associated development to connect the generating station to the national grid (the “Project”). The onshore cable corridor is approximately 70km long from the landfall at Wolla Bank, south of Anderby Creek to a new substation at Surfleet Marsh and then to a new National Grid substation at Weston Marsh that will be consented built, owned, and operated by National Grid Electricity Transmission.

Development consent is required to the extent that the development is or forms part of a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) pursuant to section 14(1)(a) and 15(3) of the Planning Act 2008. As the proposed offshore generating station is expected to have a capacity of over 100 MW, it is an NSIP for the purposes of section 14(1)(a) and 15(3) of the Planning Act 2008. It is for this reason that the Project falls within the remit of the Secretary of State.

The proposed DCO would, among other things, license and authorise:

• Up to 100 offshore wind turbines and their foundations with a maximum tip height of 403m above lowest astronomical tide and a maximum rotor diameter of 340m;
• Up to two large or up to four small offshore transformer substations and their foundations within the array area;
• Up to one offshore accommodation platform and its foundations;
• Up to two offshore HVAC reactive compensation platforms and their foundations within the offshore cable route;
• A network of subsea cables connecting the wind turbines, offshore transformer substations and offshore accommodation platform;
• Up to four offshore subsea export cable circuits to bring electricity from the offshore transformer substations to landfall, located at Wolla Bank, south of Anderby Creek;
• Works at landfall to connect the offshore export cable circuits to the onshore cable circuits, crossing underneath the beach and including transition joint bays;
• Up to four underground cable circuits approximately 70 km in length, with joint bays, link boxes and/or earth pits, commencing at the landfall and running in a south westerly direction to an onshore substation at Surfleet Marsh;
• A new onshore substation at Surfleet Marsh;
• A connection into National Grid infrastructure at Weston Marsh including underground cable circuits with joint bays, link boxes and/or earth pits;
• Associated or ancillary works including archaeological and ground investigations, construction compounds, improvements and alterations to highways, verges and private access roads, construction of a temporary haul road, landscaping and drainage works;
• If required, compensatory measures in respect of the Inner Dowsing, Race Bank, and North Ridge Special Area of Conservation;
• If required, provision of offshore artificial nesting structure(s) as a compensatory measure for potential impacts in respect of special protection area(s);
• If required, the compulsory acquisition of land and/or the compulsory acquisition of permanent and/or temporary rights;
• If required, the temporary stopping up, alteration or diversion of streets;
• The application and/or disapplication of legislation including, among other things, legislation relating to compulsory purchase; and
• Such ancillary, incidental and consequential provisions, permits or consents as are necessary and/or convenient.

Copies of the Application

Copies of the Application form and accompanying plans, maps and other application documents may be inspected free of charge on the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Farm project page of the Planning Inspectorate’s National Infrastructure Planning website under the documents tab:

https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/ EN010130/documents

The documents may be inspected, via the Planning Inspectorate website. Computers accessible to the public are viewable at the following venues.