Rampion 2 Consultation

What is Rampion 2?

Rampion 2 is a proposed expansion of the existing Rampion offshore wind farm (Rampion 1) located in the English Channel off the Sussex coast. RWE, the developers, want to extend the wind farm to help meet the UK government’s target for offshore wind generation of 40 Gigawatts (GW) by 2030. This is a quadrupling of offshore wind capacity from around 10GW in 2020, to 40GW by 2030.

What does Sussex Wildlife Trust think?

Climate change is one of the most serious threats to biodiversity, so we support efforts to reduce carbon emissions by producing renewable energy. However, we also recognise that all forms of energy generation will have environmental costs. It's vital that renewable energy projects are planned and delivered to avoid harming wildlife and deliver an overall net gain for biodiversity to support nature’s recovery.

Rampion 2 is a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and any development of this scale inevitably poses risks to wildlife. We have worked to understand what these risks might be, whether we think these risks can be avoided or minimised, and if an overall net gain for biodiversity will be delivered.

We looked at the evidence presented for both onshore (on land) and offshore (at sea) ecology, to push for any valuable sites and habitats for wildlife to be avoided. We also pushed to see that lessons have been learned from the implementation of Rampion 1 and other windfarm projects, to make sure that any habitat restoration or creation is as effective as possible. 

At sea, we are concerned about two designated Marine Conservation Zones (Kingmere and Offshore Overfalls), which are close to the proposed windfarm extension and could be impacted by construction – on top of existing pressures like nearby dredging for aggregates. Although the protected areas stand out, we have also looked at whether important and fragile habitats that sit outside of protected areas have been given due consideration, notably chalk reef and nesting sites of Black Seabream.

On land, we have looked at the proposed cable route to make sure that protected sites and important habitats are avoided.

As offshore wind developments are accelerating nationally, The Wildlife Trusts are working collaboratively with us so that we can make appropriate representation on a local and national level, applying the local knowledge as well as more universal expertise on offshore wind.

The DCO process

Rampion 2 is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, so permission will be decided by a Planning Inspector and the Secretary of State during a process known as a Development Consent Order (DCO). 

RWE submitted their DCO application to the Planning Inspectorate on 10 August 2023, which then went through a long examination phase. Sussex Wildlife Trust registered as an Interested Party so that we could submit Relevant Representations and Written Representations to the Planning Inspectorate. The Inspector completed the examination and has sent a Recommendation Report to the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State then reviews the report and makes the final decision. They usually have 3 months to do this, but the deadline for the decision has recently been extended until 4th April 2025 to 'allow for further information'.

You can find all the relevant information here

Previous consultations

The process of gaining consent for the wind farm expansion is very long, and has included a number of previous consultations:

2020 - informal consultation

2021 - consultation asking people to express their views and contribute to the evolving design of the Rampion 2 project. In particular, the project team completed a Preliminary Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) setting out the initial findings of work by RWE to assess impacts on the environment and local communities. You can read our response here: Sussex Wildlife Trust and The Wildlife Trusts joint response to the Rampion 2 Formal Consultation on the Preliminary Environmental Information Report

2022 - a further supplementary consultation on some specific potential changes to the onshore cable route. The proposed changes avoided some of the previous potential impacts on important habitats such as ancient woodland, hedgerows and chalk grassland. However, there were new possible impacts to consider too. You can read the Sussex Wildlife Trust's response here: Sussex Wildlife Trust response Rampion2 Onshore Targeted Consultation Oct22