The Planning Inspectorate has given the green light to contentious plans to lay miles of cable linking two proposed windfarms to a substation near Preston, sparking concerns from Fylde Council. The decision has been met with opposition from residents and businesses in areas such as St Annes, Wrea Green and Kirkham, who have been campaigning against the proposals for some time.
They established the protest group 'Against the Wind Farm Onshore Cable and Substation Plans across the Fylde' to raise awareness and challenge the plans, fearing that the scheme would scar the land and cause significant disruption to homes and livelihoods. Fylde Council has now added its concerns.
The Planning Inspectorate has announced it has accepted an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to connect two planned wind farms in the Irish Sea to the national grid at the Penwortham Substation. The proposed development involves undersea cables landing near Blackpool Airport and running underground to two substations between Kirkham and Newton, before continuing underground and beneath the River Ribble to Penwortham.
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The scheme will now proceed to the next stage of the planning process.
Fylde Council voiced concerns to the Planning Inspectorate, stating that the pre-application consultation lacked adequate notification of all relevant parties and failed to provide sufficient details for meaningful feedback from local communities and stakeholders, reports .
Leader of Fylde Council, Cllr Karen Buckley, said: "Our submission to the Planning Inspectorate was a clear request to decline to accept the application to progress to the next stage. Instead, we asked that the proposals be refined and further consultations take place with the local community, statutory consultees and stakeholders."
She further emphasized that revising the proposals could have led to exploring alternative routes for connecting to the national grid, resulting in reduced environmental impact, lower implementation costs, and potential economic benefits, such as utilizing the nearby Hillside Technology Enterprise Zone.
Cllr Buckley criticized the oversight, saying: "The fact that this opportunity has been missed demonstrates a blinkered approach that ignores the local geography of Fylde and risks the implementation of a scheme that threatens homes and local livelihoods that support our community."
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Deputy Leader and Planning Committee Chair at Fylde Council, Cllr Richard Redcliffe, said: "We are extremely disappointed that the Planning Inspectorate has decided to accept the application despite the view of the local council that the consultation exercise carried out prior to the submission of the application was flawed. The report outlining the reasons for the application being accepted has not yet been published and we intend to carefully review the Planning Inspectorate's reasoning for accepting the application.
"Fylde Council will continue to make representations to the proposal at the next stages of the procedure and would encourage residents who may be directly or indirectly impacted by the development to register with the Inspectorate so that they remain informed of the process and to make their views known to the Inspectorate."
Coun Redciffe said that whilst Fylde Council is committed to providing for renewable energy and the infrastructure that supports it, this must be balanced against the impacts on the local communities and the environment.
Fylde Council objected to the proposed connection for a reasons including the potential impact of the project on agricultural land, the visual impact of the large substations that would be required and the widespread disturbance that would be created during the construction phase.
The initiative, dubbed the Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Wind Farms: Transmission Assets project, includes two significant components. The Morgan project is taking shape under a joint venture between BP and EnBW Energie Baden-Wurttemberg AG.
Meanwhile, the Morecambe segment is progressing through a collaboration between Cobra and Flotation Energy. Combined, BP says both projects harbour the potential to generate up to 2GW of energy.
A spokesperson previously emphasised the importance of community engagement, saying: "Having an open dialogue with communities is critical as the project progresses to refine its proposals and we greatly value the feedback from local residents and stakeholders."
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