Fylde Council considers the Secretary of State’s decision to grant permission for the Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Wind Farms Transmission Assets to be fundamentally flawed. The decision departs from key findings of the Examining Authority’s report and provides no assurance that the benefits claimed for the project will ever be realised, particularly given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the financial viability of the Morgan scheme.
Throughout the examination process, Fylde Council set out clear, evidence-based objections about the scale of harm to Fylde’s countryside, the impact on local communities and the weaknesses in the applicants’ case. Many of these concerns were recognised by the Examining Authority, which recommended refusal. The Council remains firmly of the view that this cabling corridor represents an unacceptable and avoidable burden on Fylde.
Immediately following the announcement, the Council sought specialist external legal advice to explore steps to challenge the decision. The advice, now received, is clear and definitive: the legal threshold for challenge is not met, and any attempt to litigate would expose the Council, and therefore local taxpayers, to potentially severe and uncapped financial liabilities. Other individuals or bodies may be able to rely on legal and financial protections that are not available to local authorities such as Fylde Council.
Councillor Karen Buckley, Leader of Fylde Council, said: “This decision is a bitter disappointment for Fylde. Our representations persuaded the independent Planning Inspectorate to recommend that the application be refused. The Secretary of State has overridden that expert judgment, ignoring the harm to Fylde’s coast, countryside and people’s livelihoods. She ruled that expanding renewable energy provides ‘very special circumstances’ that outweigh the Green Belt damage and ‘all other harms’ caused by the project.
“We are angry, residents are angry and parish councils are angry. We wanted to fight the decision and explored every option but the legal advice is clear: a challenge by the Council would expose taxpayers to unlimited and potentially very substantial costs. Others with capped legal protections may still pursue a claim.”
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