Environmental Monitoring
An independent Planning Monitoring Officer from engineering company Ramboll UK Limited is employed by Viking Energy Wind Farm LLP to help the Planning Authority monitor the project’s compliance with the terms of the planning conditions.
This includes, for example, confirming the implementation of approved site-specific management plans (such as pollution prevention, waste management and species protection measures), and making sure that the appropriate documentation and records are in place and up to date.
This work is currently based around a two-day site audit every month throughout the period of the development and up to the completion of post-construction restoration works. The Planning Enforcement Officer (or his nominee) from the Council will also attend, and Ramboll’s officer will attend at any other time if specific concerns arise.
The Planning Service can request that the Officer targets their inspection on any area of particular concern. A formal report is then presented to the developer and the Planning Service and, if breaches of conditions are found, the developer must rectify the situation as soon as possible.
Copies of the independent Planning Monitoring Officer’s site audit reports that have been submitted to the Planning Authority in accordance with one of the wind farm’s planning conditions can be found at the link below.
Viking Wind Farm Planning Monitoring Officer Audit Reports
The developer must produce evidence to the Planning Monitoring Officer that the relevant breach(es) have been resolved, and that satisfactory measures have been put in place to make sure there is no repeat of the incident(s). The Council’s Planning Service will be informed of all such incidents and how they have been rectified. The first of these audit visits is planned for the last week of October 2020.