Public Notice: North Falls Offshore Wind Farm

REGULATIONS 8 AND 9 OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING (APPLICATIONS: PRESCRIBED FORMS AND PROCEDURE) REGULATIONS 2009

REGULATION 16 OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING (ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT) REGULATIONS 2017

Notice is hereby given that the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has accepted an application (‘the Application’) by North Falls Offshore Wind Farm Limited (‘the Applicant’) (company number 12435947 and registered office at Windmill Hill Business Park, Whitehill Way, Swindon, SN5 6PB) for a Development Consent Order (‘DCO’) under the Planning Act 2008 (‘the Act’). The Application (reference number: EN010119) was submitted by the Applicant to the Secretary of State via the Planning Inspectorate on 26 July 2024 and accepted for examination on the 22 August 2024.

Summary of the Application

North Falls Offshore Wind Farm (the ‘Project’ or ‘North Falls’) will comprise an offshore generating station with a capacity exceeding 100 megawatts (MW). The Project is therefore classified as a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) under sections 14(1)(a) and 15(3) of the Act and requires development consent in accordance with section 31 of the Act. It is for this reason that the Application falls within the remit of the Secretary of State’s decision-making powers.

North Falls is an offshore wind farm located in the outer Thames Estuary. The DCO Application is for the construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of an offshore wind farm proposed approximately 40km off the East Anglia coast in the southern North Sea. The Project comprises: a single offshore array area covering an area of 95 square kilometres with up to 57 wind turbine generators, the installation of underground cables and associated infrastructure; construction of up to two offshore substation platforms, or, up to one offshore substation platform and up to one offshore converter platform; the construction of up to two cable circuits and associated ducting with the onshore landfall taking place at between Clacton-on-Sea and Frinton- on-Sea; the construction of an electrical substation between Little Bromley and Ardleigh to connect to National Grid’s proposed East Anglia Connection Node (EACN) substation; and all associated development and ancillary works. The Application provides for three options for the transmission of the electricity generated by the wind farm as follows:

• Option 1: Onshore electrical connection at a National Grid connection point within the Tendring peninsula of Essex, with a project alone onshore cable route and onshore substation infrastructure;
• Option 2: Onshore electrical connection at a National Grid connection point within the Tendring peninsula of Essex, sharing an onshore cable route and onshore cable duct installation (but with separate onshore export cables) and co-locating separate Project onshore substation infrastructure with Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm; or
• Option 3: Offshore electrical connection, supplied by a third-party.

The onshore infrastructure works required under Options 1 and 2 above would be within the administrative area of Essex County Council and Tendring District Council.

The DCO, if granted, would enable the acquisition of land, new rights over land and the imposition of restrictions that are required to construct, operate and maintain the Project. In addition, it contains powers for the possession and use of land on a temporary basis to facilitate the construction and maintenance of the Project. The DCO would also authorise alterations to the layout of streets, the construction of accesses to the Project, the temporary stopping up of public rights of way, street works, removal of hedgerows and the application and modification of legislation.

Maps showing the onshore and offshore locations of the Project that form part of the Application are titled Location Plan (Onshore) (Document Reference: 5.1) and the Location Plan (Offshore) (Document Reference: 5.2) both of which can be viewed on the Planning Inspectorate’s website under the documents tab:

https://national-infrastructure-consenting. planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/EN010119/documents

Environmental Impact Assessment Development

The Project is an Environmental Impact Assessment Development (“EIA Development”) for the purposes of the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017. The Application is therefore accompanied by an Environmental Statement.

Copy of the application form and accompanying documents

The application form, and all accompanying documents (including the Environmental Statement, Non- Technical Summary of the Environmental Statement, a Guide to the Application and draft DCO), can be viewed electronically and downloaded free of charge on the Planning Inspectorate’s website under the documents tab:

https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/EN010119/documents

The Application documents will be available online on the Planning Inspectorate’s website for the duration of the pre-examination and examination stage and will also be accessible online in the locations set out below until at least the end of the representation period (closing on 18 October 2024). The locations listed below have public internet access, through which the Application documents can be accessed on the Planning Inspectorate’s website free of charge. Please check directly with the facilities to confirm their opening hours, as well as any bookings or registrations that might be required to access the documents digitally through the computers available at the respective locations.