Another wind farm decision delayed owing to Cawston traffic issues

After the recent decision to delay approval of Danish company Ørsted’s Hornsea Project Three offshore wind farm planning application because of offshore issues, another scheme has been delayed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – this time the reasons given include the impact of construction traffic in the centre of Cawston.
 

High Street, Cawston. Photo: Reepham Community Press

 
The Norfolk Vanguard application by Sweden’s Vattenfall would have brought a cumulative impact of up to 239 heavy goods vehicles a day along the B1145, six days a week, along with hundreds of smaller vans and staff cars while construction of a 45-metre-wide cable corridor to the north and west of Cawston takes place.
 
Cawston Parish Council, together with residents and county councillor Greg Peck, raised many objections to the Planning Inspectorate and put forward alternative approaches that would have taken the traffic away from the village.
 
These suggestions were not taken up by Vattenfall, according to Cawston parish councillor Chris Monk.
 
After reading the planning inspectors’ report, Andrea Leadsom, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has written to Vattenfall, Natural England, local councils and other interested parties highlighting problems at Cawston, Oulton and Necton, as well as offshore, and asking for detailed responses. The deadline for reply is 28 February.
 
Mr Monk said: “We are not anti-wind farm; we welcome the national environmental benefits they bring, but it’s very important that these projects are constructed onshore with the same consideration of local environments.
 
“We will be happy to work with Vattenfall, Ørsted and the councils to try to find an acceptable solution.”
 
Vattenfall has a second project, Norfolk Boreas, that is currently being considered by the Planning Inspectorate and Norwegian company Equinor recently announced plans to extend the Dudgeon and Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farms, with a new cable trench east of Cawston.
 
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