Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what processes are in place for Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies to consider (a) new scientific research and (b) evidence on the impact of offshore wind on the marine environment; and how this evidence is incorporated into the modelling parameters which developers use when assessing the impact of offshore wind projects on (i) ornithology and (ii) benthic ecology.

Defra’s Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies, Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, work closely together on assessing and advising on the impacts of offshore wind on the marine environment. Advice is based on robust scientific methods and all new scientific research is scrutinised before incorporating it into advice. Specialists at Natural England are directly involved in many offshore wind research projects and contribute to the Offshore Wind Environmental Evidence Register to support the knowledge base for the development of new offshore wind farms. New evidence is incorporated into Natural England’s guidance to offshore wind developers on environmental impact assessments. The guidance covers both ornithology and benthic assessments and is updated when new evidence comes to light.