Planning legislation requires a Statement of Community Consultation (SOCC) to be drawn up in conjunction with the local planning authority or authorities and published in a local newspaper. The purpose of the SOCC is to explain how we will consult on the project with the local community, residents, businesses, organisations and visitors to the area before the Development Consent Order (DCO) application is made.

A SOCC strategy document has also been produced which sets out the approach and methodology which we have adopted for the purposes of the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm community consultation programme. These documents can be downloaded from the documents section.

We published the SOCC in the following papers:

• The Argus
• Latest7
• Mid Sussex Times
• Sussex Express
• West Sussex Gazette
• Fishing News

Environmental information

The project requires an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be undertaken and this will be documented within the Environmental Statement (ES) which will accompany our DCO application to the IPC. The EIA process ensures that the potential significant environmental effects of the project are identified, assessed and managed. Preliminary Environmental Information (PEI) includes a review of the likely potential impacts and benefits of the project and this is displayed in a Community Consultation Document which supports the consultation.

The Community Consultation Document sets out the details of the project including PEI, on which we sought the views of the local community. A community consultation questionnaire accompanied the Community Consultation Document and invited comments on a range of onshore and offshore issues.