Once you have completed your scoping work and submitted the scoping report to your Local Planning Authority (LPA) they will inform you of the assessments and studies you will be required to submit in your planning application.

On larger projects (approximately 5MW and above) you will also be required to undertake a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and submit an Environmental Survey (ES), as directed by your Local Planning Officer.

On smaller development projects, your LPA may ask you to complete certain studies whereas larger projects (approximately 5MW and above) will require documentation of design and location considerations, but more particularly will entail an Environmental Impact Assessment. An EIA is a detailed assessment of all the local environmental data taking account of the following considerations:

•    species types, movements and numbers;
•    distance to the nearest dwelling/road;
•    nature conservation areas;
•    landscape conservation areas.
•    socioeconomic impacts    

We recommend that you have a professional project manager to oversee the completion of the EIA. If you have been using a consultant in the early stages of the project you may appoint him to project manage the EIA and coordinate the agents that will perform the various studies. Note that studying bird migration, for example,  will require a year’s worth of observational data so an EIA takes time to complete and can be costly. It is not uncommon to spend in the region of £250,000 of a full EIA. This should be factored into your financial model.

Submitting your Planning Application

When you have compiled your Environmental Survey or the reports that have been requested by the planning authority, you are ready to make your application. Submit your application with a cheque to cover the application fee to your planning department. After a minimum of 16 weeks your application will be heard by the local planning committee.

With your Environmental Impact Assessment complete and your Environmental Survey written, you are ready to submit your planning application. There is a fee for making your application that is proportionate to the area of land for which you are applying for planning. In case of a small wind farm this will be several thousand pounds.

Once you have made your application, you will get a confirmation letter from your planning department that will assign you a case officer that you can liaise with. Once you receive this letter there will be a wait of sixteen weeks minimum before your application is heard and ruled upon by the planning committee.

During this period the planning officer will be reviewing your application and preparing a report for the planning committee advising them on your project and ultimately recommending whether the project should receive approval or not. It is important to have a good channel of communication with your case officer which will hopefully be the officer that you have liaised with from the outset of your project. A good case officer will prompt you for any additional information they feel is required and get your application to the committee on schedule.

Your application will be submitted to the planning committee with the case officer’s report and recommendations. The possible outcomes may be:

Rejection – The committee may not approve your application. This will be because, in the view of the committee, the project compromises certain aspects of its situation. If this is the outcome you have an option to appeal and will be required to submit further evidence to convince the planning committee otherwise. Appeals can prove to be a very lengthy process.

Deferred – The committee may be undecided and require further evidence. If this is the case you will need to collect further information, submit it to the planning department and your application will be reconsidered at a future hearing. When the decision is deferred it is often because the committee wants to make a site visit to help them make a decision.

Approval – Your application will have been marked by your case officer for approval and the committee agree. Your hard work has paid off and you have the approval to go and build your wind farm!