The UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has postponed the decision deadline for the Hornsea Project Three development consent order application until 31 March 2020.
The decision deadline was postponed from 2 October to 31 March 2020 to allow for additional information and comments to be submitted related to two late representations on ornithological matters.
The representations were submitted by Ørsted, the developer of the project, on 31 July, and by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) on 6 September.
Ørsted has been requested to submit, in consultation with the Marine Management Organisation, an updated In Principle Southern North Sea Special Area of Conservation Site Integrity Plan; and to provide further information and representations on impacts from cable rock protection on the subtidal sand features of the two Marine Conservation Zones, Cromer Shoal Chalk Beds Marine Conservation Zone, and Markham’s Triangle.
Responses on the information requested and the two representations are to be submitted by 31 December 2019, after which the Secretary of State will have three months to make the decision on the development consent order application.
Ørsted is proposing to build up to 300 turbines at the 2.4GW Hornsea Project Three offshore wind farm more than 120km off the north Norfolk coast.