| This project investigates the involvement of coastal planning authorities in the development of the first generation of the UK’s major offshore wind farms. This reveals a universal interest in the development of offshore wind farms and support for the principle of marine renewable energy. Attitudes towards individual schemes vary from strong support in some contexts to deep opposition in others. In all cases, however, planning authorities set out detailed concerns for the environmental and associated consequences of the schemes, demonstrating a subtle understanding of their marine settings and of localised land-sea interactions. This leads to a number of arguments in favour of the greater involvement of planning authorities with marine renewables, in line with current European initiatives in marine spatial planning which will inevitably bring offshore renewables into the extended remit of planning. |
