The High Court in the UK has accepted a judicial review of Energy Secretary Alok Sharma’s approval for Vattenfall’s 1800MW Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm off the East Anglia coast of eastern England.
The claimant, local resident Ray Pearce, believes the Secretary of State unlawfully excluded from consideration the cumulative effects of the Norfolk Vanguard wind farm taken together with Vattenfall’s adjacent 1.8GW Norfolk Boreas development, which is still in planning.
Both wind farms will share some onshore infrastructure but are subject to separate applications for development consent.
The attempt to quash development consent for Norfolk Vanguard was first reported in the subscriber-only newsletter reNEWS this summer.
“I strongly support the use of renewable wind power electricity which is a wonderful progression for the people of the UK,” Pearce said.
“I do not agree with the exploitation of this valuable resource, by private companies, intent on building transmission systems that will severely damaging the environment they were supposed to save and causing chaos for Norfolk’s people.”
The judicial review is due to be heard early next year.
A Vattenfall spokesperson said: “We have worked closely with local communities right through the development of Norfolk Vanguard to understand the key issues and put forward the best possible design for the project.
“Our plans, including mitigations we introduced during our conversations with stakeholders, were robustly scrutinised during the examination process, and subsequently assessed and approved by the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy.
“Keeping this project on track is crucial in meeting the net zero decarbonisation target whilst supporting post Covid-19 green recovery and economic growth in the UK – in particular providing a major economic boost to East Anglia.”