North Falls statutory consultation

Now open for comments

Tuesday 16 May until Friday 14 July 2023

North Falls Offshore Wind Farm, an extension project to the existing 504 MW Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm, is being developed in the southern North Sea more than 20km off the UK coast. Its site is in two parts which together cover a total area of 150km². The project has an agreement with National Grid to connect to the national electricity network at a new substation in Tendring, Essex. Onshore electricity cables would be installed underground from landfall near Frinton-on-Sea to this new substation.

North Falls is being developed by North Falls Offshore Wind Farm Limited, a 50/50 joint venture company owned by SSE Renewables and RWE.

The project is now holding its statutory consultation phase which is your key chance to influence the proposals by providing feedback and comments. You can do so via this consultation portal, by using one of the feedback methods detailed below or by attending one of our face-to-face events or webinars. Responses related to the consultation should be received 11.59pm on 14 July 2023.

Programme of events

Date	Time	Location
Friday 2 June 2023	3.30pm to 7.30pm	Great Bromley Village Hall, Parsons Hill, Great Bromley, Colchester, CO7 7JA
Saturday 3 June 2023	9am to 1pm	Tendring Village Hall, Tendring, Clacton-on-Sea, CO16 0BG
Thursday 8 June 2023	3.30pm to 7.30pm	McGrigor Hall, 85 Fourth Ave, Frinton-on-Sea, CO13 9EB
Friday 9 June 2023	3.30pm to 7.30pm	Thorpe-le-Soken Women's Institute Hall, High Street, Thorpe-le-Soken, CO16 0EF
Saturday 10 June 2023	9am to 1pm	Ardleigh Village Hall, Station Road, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RS
Tuesday 13 June 2023	6.00pm	Online Zoom Webinar - Click here to Register
Wednesday 21 June 2023	6.00pm	Online Zoom Webinar - Click here to Register

* To register for the webinar please click the link on the date you would like to join.

How will it look

To show how the North Falls offshore site could look we have produced a 3D computer-generated visualisation that includes viewpoints from 17 coastal locations. For those in Suffolk and Kent, where the key issue is around visual impact, consultation panels with links to our visualisation will be on display in Felixstowe Library, Aldeburgh Library, Southwold Library and Whitstable Library for the duration of the consultation.

Purpose of this consultation

This consultation is our third phase of consultation and its purpose is to give people a further chance to review, influence and provide comments on our project proposals, and specifically on our preliminary environmental information report (PEIR). This report sets out our initial findings from the environmental impact assessment (EIA) work that has been completed over the past three years. The EIA investigates the potentially significant effects that our proposals may have on the environment and on local communities and details how they are avoided or mitigated where possible.

The proposals presented in this consultation are not the final application, rather this is an opportunity for the local community and others with an interest in the project to influence the details of the application before it is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

Non-technical summary

The North Falls Offshore Wind Farm Preliminary Environment Information Report (PEIR) is a complex and detailed document comprising three volumes and a Non-technical Summary (NtS). It is recommended you start your review with the Non-technical Summary as it gives a high level overview and can help to signpost you to the PEIR chapters, details and documents that are likely to be of most interest.

You can download a PDF of the NtS via the document link opposite. You can also find brief extracts of the document, along with links to relevant PEIR chapters, on this consultation portal page (using the dropdown menu above or link below).

Download Non-technical summary

North Falls PEIR

A Guide to the PEIR, which gives details of the chapters and documents it comprises, can be found here. To see the full list of PEIR documents, you can use the link opposite.

As well as the NtS mentioned above, the PEIR comprises three volumes namely:

Volume I - Technical PEIR chapters. There are 33 chapters covering every aspect of the project from ecology and ornithology to traffic and shipping.

Volume II - Chapter figures. These are the maps and drawings that support each chapter.

Volume III - Chapter appendices. There are a number of appendices that also align to the information found in the chapters.

As well as the chapters and their supporting figures and appendices, additional reports for review are:

Schedule of Mitigation
Design Vision
Habitats Regulations Assessment
Marine Conservation Zone Assessment

In addition, this consultation portal has been devised to help lead you through the PEIR depending on your main area of interest. By following the drop-down menus (above) or links (below) you can access topic-specific pages that give summary details and signpost you to the relevant PEIR chapters.

View guide to the Preliminary Environmental Information Report View Preliminary Environmental Information Report (all documents)

How to provide feedback

You can give your feedback by completing the feedback form, by leaving comments direct on to the consultation map or by attending one of the face-to-face consultation events or webinars (details above).

You can also contact us directly via the website, freephone, email or post.

Leave feedback via our feedback form Leave comments on our consultation map