Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Accepted
Coordinate departments and Crown Estate to site offshore wind away from sensitive areas.
Recommendation
We recommend the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) coordinate with The Crown Estate to ensure that offshore wind developments are developed away from the most sensitive and biologically diverse sites. This should be done by clearly setting out marine spatial areas (e.g. Marine Protected Areas and Highly Protected Marine Areas) where nature restoration is a priority, and habitats have long-term protection, so they are not compromised by future developments. (Recommendation, Paragraph 78)
Government Response Summary
The government partially agrees, stating that a strategic steer has already been provided to The Crown Estate to avoid environmentally sensitive areas for offshore wind development, and this guidance will be incorporated into the Marine Delivery Routemap.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
It is crucial for Defra to work closely with DESNZ and TCE. As previously noted, the Government has provided a strategic steer to TCE on the key risks and considerations related to potential future offshore wind development in the English sea. This guidance supports TCE in identifying suitable areas for future offshore wind leasing, helping to avoid the most environmentally sensitive areas including MPAs and HPMAs in those potentially suitable areas or mitigations where relevant. MSPri also helped to identify areas critical to other marine sectors and Government priorities. The outputs of this process will be incorporated into TCE’s Marine Delivery Routemap which aims to help plan all marine sectors and nature in an integrated way. This strategic steer is a result of a new, in-depth. and data-driven cross-government exercise, in which departments (supported by regulators and advisory bodies) assessed their policy priorities across the English marine space. The Government therefore partially agrees with this recommendation.