Vattenfall – Public Consultation for Norfolk Vanguard Wind Farm
Organised in two regions: Nordic and Continental/UK, Vattenfall is one of Europe’s largest producers of electricity and the largest producer of heat. In the UK, Vattenfall owns six wind farms totalling 612MW in operation and another 314MW under construction. Public consultation for wind farms is critical to the success of projects, ensuring all compliance and community needs are met.
Norfolk Vanguard is a 1.8 gigawatt (GW) development area located more than 47km from the Norfolk Coast. If it goes ahead, the project will be one of the largest wind farms in the world. It will have the capacity to meet the demand for electricity of about 1.3 million UK homes per year. The project is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) under the Planning Act 2008.
The Scoping Report has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate and Vattenfall has received a Scoping Opinion in response.
The project location. Source: Vattenfall
Managing the Consultation Process with Darzin
A program of non-statutory (informal) and statutory (formal) consultation is being undertaken for the Norfolk Vanguard. Stakeholder feedback is essential in allowing Vattenfall to understand the local area and develop the best possible proposal for the submission of the application in 2018. Darzin was implemented in 2016 to manage the stakeholder engagement process for the project.
The first phase of consultation began with a series of Public Information Days across Norfolk in October 2016. Some 780 people came along, 105 people completed feedback forms – at the exhibitions, or returning them by freepost, or online. In addition, many people made notes on flipchart paper at the event.
Drop-in event attendance by location. Source: Vattenfall
A feedback form was created in Darzin and made available for the participants to fill out either online or by post. Automatic quantitative reports were generated by Darzin to show some general trends. Public consultation for this wind farm was done efficiently through the implementation of Darzin. The screenshot below shows some figures drawn from the feedback form.
Source: Norfolk Vanguard October 2016 Drop-in Summary Report, Vattenfall
A registration form created in Darzin was embedded onto Vattenfall website to capture details of people who want to be kept up to date as the project progresses (screenshot below).
Consultation with stakeholders through other communication channels such as phone calls, face to face meetings, emails, etc were also captured in Darzin for tracking and reporting.
The next round of Public Information Days was in March 2017. Vattenfall revealed feedback from an extensive engagement campaign last autumn and showing the latest thinking on the projects. A total of nine events is being held on the Norfolk coast and in north Norfolk. Darzin continues to be used to record the stakeholder feedback to incorporate into the project designs and decisions.
If you have any questions or want help with your stakeholder engagement practices, get in touch with us.