Rampion have a legal responsibility for consultation which they have simply not met with regards to Cowfold.

Most of Cowfold is within 3km radius of Oakendene, some of us are within a 3 km radius of all 3 proposed sites and some also along the proposed cable route. Legally we should have been properly engaged with from the beginning as people ‘within the vicinity’

Indeed, we are perhaps the parish with whom they should have engaged the most, being the only parish where, with Rampion’s current plan, any lasting infrastructure above ground on shore will remain.

Few neighbours and businesses around Oakendene were informed in a reasonable way, if at all. We only found out when some received a large pile of irrelevant maps from Carter Jonas, unintelligible to many. Businesses in Oakendene are very much against the substation but feel they have not had a say. Again, they are specifically obliged to engage with local businesses in a meaningful way

Some Cowfold residents received a Rampion ‘junk mail’ leaflet a few weeks before end of the final consultation period. Most put it in the recycling. Not surprising as it had no mention of a substation at all and showed a cable route going down to Wineham, there is nothing about it to properly inform and enable intelligent consideration, as they are obliged by the Planning Act 2008 to do, indeed it is misleading.

There was no Rampion meeting in Cowfold until end of a 2.5-year consultation: too late to meaningfully engage the residents or allow time for a considered response.

The little publicity they have sent to us has been uninformative (like their leaflet) or too technical (like their maps).

The Parish Council were supposed to have been ‘Fully Consulted’ by Rampion before the consultation even started. They deny receiving anything, yet to have had Parish Council input from the outset might have enabled us to engage with the consultation from an early stage and materially influence the outcome

The Parish Council confirm that there has been no meaningful engagement by Rampion with the village until almost the very end of the whole two-year consultation process; no posters in the village, public meetings, maps or documents for consultation in the village hall etc. All of these are legal requirements. See Cowfold Parish Council Home page -scroll down it to read their report. 

Local farmers have been pressurised into allowing Rampion to use their land for the cable route and then been constrained by a non-disclosure agreement. This is unacceptable in what is supposed to be a fair and open public process.

An excellent letter to Rampion from our MP, Andrew Griffith in November 2022 which highlights the lack of awareness across the county in fact. Our MP continues to voice his concerns and has recently met with a number of Cowfold residents to add his support. You can read more on his website here and further down this page.

In December 2022 Mr Griffith wrote the following in his West Sussex newspaper column; You can read in full here

'Like many others, I do support offshore wind and I am proud of the leading role the UK is taking in its adoption as part of our plans to transition to a low carbon economy. However, locations such as the Dogger Bank offer a more productive opportunity for offshore wind with a dedicated offshore grid to transport the electricity. Expansion in the North Sea would mean we avoid unnecessary damage to the environment across the South Downs in communities such as Burpham, Sullington, Washington, Oakendene and Cowfold. The impact will be particularly felt during the years long construction phase where a motorway like earth ‘scar’ will slice through the Downs. And compounds, vehicle parks and spoil sites will also inflict light and noise pollution on residents. I have submitted my response to the consultation - joint my voice to those of residents - and I do hope that the developers listen.'

Following our meeting, Mr Griffith sent us the attached letter confirming that we have his full support. You can read his letter here.

We continue to uncover failings in Rampion's consultation and reporting. You can read more here.

We have sent a document to WSCC and the Planning Inspectorate which lists the inadequacies of the consultation against their legal requirements and indeed Rampion’s own stated objectives.