Contact Us: via email and to register for updates cowfoldvrampion@gmail.com
Contact Us: via email and to register for updates cowfoldvrampion@gmail.com
Letter to County Times 'Destruction of Cowfold'
Sussex Express 'Rampion 2: New Sussex wind farm would be 'silent ecosystem killer'' (September 2023)
Protect Coastal Sussex: Press Release regarding Rampion 2 Acceptance by PI.
Sussex Express ' Villagers claim they weren't consulted by Rampion over plans for new substation in busy Cowfold' (March 2023)
Sussex Express ' Worried villagers near Horsham launch fight against Rampion wind farm substation' (February 2023)
Cowfold farmer fears plans for 'royal woodland' will be wrecked by Rampion wind farm (October 2022)
Cowfold Resident's assessment of the environmental impact (September 2021)
Campaigners oppose offshore windfarm substation plans (BBC News Aug 2024)
Are Rampion as green as they would like to appear? BBC News article on Brown Coal. (April 2021)
A representative of CowfoldvRampion met with Protect Coastal Sussex (PCS), the umbrella group for the Rampion protest groups along the south coast. PCS managed to reopen the consultation after the first round in 2021 because many residents hadn't been sent leaflets or letters. They did this largely by repeatedly contacting Rampion and the Planning Inspectorate, although it was Rampion themselves who eventually caved in. PCS went door to door asking people if they had received the letters; we are leafleting and asking people to email WSCC via our councillor Sarah Payne.
PCS like us continue to experience consultation failures, information not being, poor quality when it is, no meetings, no photographs, artists impressions, models etc. Rampion have been similarly economical with the truth when asked about details, and there are also instances of people being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements. Repeatedly, local knowledge is not taken into account. Sound familiar?
We are collaborating with PCS on wildlife issues and sharing adequacy of consultation information . We also agreed to produce a co-ordinated statement to lend weight to our case.
We believe the evidence is so overwhelming between us that we have a real chance to get another consultation. The reality of a substation at Oakendene just hasn't been properly thought out in terms of traffic, environmental and economic impacts. Knepp, the Council for the protection of Rural England, Sussex Wildlife Trust , the Sussex Ornithological Society and RSPB have shown an interest in the red-list species we have recorded in the wildlife corridor from Gratwicke to Oakendene and this work continues.
PCS have done a lot of work on alternative green energy sources and how these might make wind farms less profitable and so less interesting for Rampion, so the longer we can delay them over adequacy of consultation the better. Also they are investigating the 2014 rejection of Navitus Bay Wind Park off the Dorset coast and feel they might have a similar case. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/11/tories-reject-navitus-bay-offshore-windfarm
They also feel there are issues about disturbing pollution from the seabed in what is the heaviest shipping route in the world (the channel). Similar disturbance in Whitby resulted in the death of many marine animals and plants by the release of pyridine. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-60258540
Thirdly, the recent gains in the kelp forest regeneration following a Trawler Bye-law have been gathering much public support. These new kelp beds act as nurseries and habitats for countless marine animals. The sediment, chemicals and noise pollution from installation over 4 years will adversely affect this environment. https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/helpourkelp
This is one of the largest proposed wind farms in the world, proposed to be sited in-shore, not offshore, as it is within 8 -12 miles from the coastline. It is proposed within 25 miles of a National Park, a Highly Sensitive Receptor, which goes against government guidelines.
Dear Supporter
A lot has been going on in the past few weeks:
Meeting our MP
On Friday 10th February we met our MP Andrew Griffith, along with our West Sussex Councillor Sarah Payne.
Sarah told us that she has had well over 200 responses to send on to West Sussex County Council, and they are still coming in. So, a big thank you to you all. However, we do need to keep them coming, so please continue to spread the word, especially to anyone you know who runs a business which may be affected by delays on the A272 , or those to whom this beautiful countryside is important
Andrew is very supportive of our campaign and has been very vocal to Rampion, the councils and the planning Inspectorate. He strongly believes this is the wrong project in the wrong place. His main message to us is that it is not too late to change things and we must continue to keep up the pressure on Rampion . Along with challenging the consultation process itself, traffic issues and the environmental costs must be highlighted.
Contact emails are:
Rampion rampion2@rwe.com
Planning Inspectorate Rampion2@planninginspectorate.gov.uk
WSCC sarah.payne@westsussex.gov.uk
Consultation failings
Recently, we met the chairman of Twineham parish council who kindly shared the documents that they as residents had received during the consultations. It is very clear that they had far more, and much earlier, skewing the responses from an early stage. See the attached document which summarises this.
Climping and Middleton on Sea residents highlighted similar failings on the coastal part of the Rampion project, resulting in the reopening of the consultation between February and April 2022.
https://mosca.click/2021/09/01/rampion-2-flawed-consultation/
Despite reopening the consultation due to their failure to consult properly, still nothing at all was received during that period by Cowfold residents to put that right for us. Unfortunately, at that time therefore, we continued to remain unaware of what was going on.
Environmental concerns
A local wildlife enthusiast has been advising us about the amazing stretch of undisturbed meadowland between Gratwicke and Oakendene. Please see her wonderful articles and stunning photos on our website; link below. This area includes Cowfold stream which feeds into the river Adur, and the area contains many of the species found on the famous Knepp Castle rewilding project. Impossible for Rampion to know from the desk top survey, which is all they had done by the time the consultation closed
https://www.cowfoldvrampion.co.uk/environmental-impact/
This is all under threat by Rampion’s proposals. Sussex Wildlife Trust and others have highlighted their concerns. Rampion have not yet issued their environmental report and say they will not do so until they submit their application to the Planning Inspectorate, giving SWT very little time to prepare a response.
We support green energy but would like to see a project with a light touch on the environment. This project is in the wrong place
Traffic
We will continue to raise the traffic issues with WSCC. Rampion’s traffic report, which is 126 pages long, barely mentions the Oakendene section of the A272. (Described as link number 27 in their document for those of you brave enough to take a look!):
https://rampion2.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Rampion-2-PEIR-Volume-2-Chapter-24-Transport.pdf
The fact that they have not dealt at all with the A272 traffic impacts, is effectively hidden in plain site in this massive document.
Thank you for your support. Please continue to make your voices heard
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