Ref. EN010005 – Examination of an application for consent for Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm

REPORT ON IMPLICATIONS FOR EUROPEAN SITES: INTEGRITY

The examination must include a process that provides sufficient information to enable the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to meet his statutory duties as the competent authority under the Habitats and Marine Regulations[1] relating to European protected sites. In order to inform the Examining Authority’s Report and Recommendation to the Secretary of State on this application and to provide stand alone information for the Secretary of State, an Examining Authority’s Question has been asked of the applicant requiring it to complete two matrices, to:

i)summarise the screening for likely significant effects, and (template matrix provided in a separate document), and

ii)summarise the implications for the integrity of the site (template matrix is provided below).

The applicant should respond to this Examining Authority’s Question by populating the matrix below and matrix i above. There may also be other Examining Authority’s Questions relating to European protected sites. Staff at the Planning Inspectorate will then assist the Examining Authority to revise the matrices as received from the applicant on the basis of evidence collected during the examination. Both matrices which will be consulted upon towards the end of the examination to allow for further input from the Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies and from other Interested Parties (and as required by the Habitat and Marine Regulations). The responses received will be used to prepare a ‘Report on the Implications for European Sites’ which will be provided by the Examining Authority to the SecretaryState alongside its Report and Recommendation on the application as a whole.

These matrices are not a replacement for the evidence gathering required to evaluate potential impacts on European sites. They are a summary of that evidence. The evidence presented within the matrices (see template matrix below) should take the form of a supporting statement for each outcome, explaining succinctly the evidence collected and it's interpretation, and where the evidence can be found within the NSIP documentation.

Potential Impacts

Potential impacts upon the European sites identified above which are considered within the submitted Habitats Regulations Assessment report (document reference)are provided in the table below. Impacts have been grouped where appropriate for ease of presentation.

Impacts considered within the integrity matrices

Designation / Impacts in submission information / Presented in integritymatrices as
European site name/designation

STAGE 2: EFFECTS ON INTEGRITY

<LIST OF EUROPEAN SITES FOR WHICH LIKELY SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED>

Matrix Key

 = Adverse effect on integrity cannot be excluded

 = Adverse effect on integrity can be excluded/is unknown

C= construction

O = operation

D = decommissioning

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Appendix 2 Integrity MatricesPage

Stage 2 Matrix A: <name of European site>:

Name of European site/Ramsar:
Distance to NSIP??km
European site features / Adverse effect on integrity
Effect 1 / Effect 2 / Effect 3 / In-combination effects
C / O / D / C / O / D / C / O / D / C / O / D
Feature 1 / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes / add tick or cross and
add footnotes
Feature 2

Evidence supporting conclusions

a. Footnote identifying where evidence is found e.g. Chapter x, paragraph y of the Environmental Statement;

b. As above

c. As above

d. As above

e. As above

Use a new table for each European /Ramsar site.

Use a separate table for in combination effects if this allows easier presentation.

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Integrity MatricesPage

REFERENCES

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Integrity MatricesPage

[1] Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 (as amended) (the Habitats Regulations) and the Offshore Marine Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 2007 (as amended) (the Marine Regulations) (referred to jointly here as the Habitats and Marine Regulations).