On Monday 27 January 2025, Fylde Council submitted a ‘Relevant Representation’ to the Planning Inspectorate, setting out the council’s ongoing concerns regarding the proposal to connect the planned Morgan and Morecambe windfarms to the National Grid at Penwortham.

The representation maintains Fylde Council’s objection to the proposal, first expressed during the pre-submission consultation in November 2023 and repeated when the application was formally submitted in November 2024. This latest representation sets out Fylde Council’s concerns that the development will have significant adverse impacts on local communities, the environment and the economy, and that significant gaps remain in the documentation that has been submitted in support of the application that mean the full impact of the development cannot be adequately assessed.

A full copy of the council’s representation is available here.

Cllr Richard Redcliffe, Fylde Council’s Deputy Leader and Planning Committee Chairman, commented: “Whilst Fylde Council is committed to providing for renewable energy and the infrastructure that supports it, this must be balanced against the potential impacts on local communities and the environment. The proposed scheme fails to address this balance and, if allowed, would result in significant harm to the local area. The Council is working with Lancashire County Council and other agencies to ensure that the Planning Inspectorate has all the necessary information and reports needed to enable them to reach a decision that secures the connection of the Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Windfarms to the National Electricity Grid without any significant impacts.”

At this stage in the process, our ‘Relevant Representation’ sets out the broad areas of concern that the council has regarding the project and the additional work we consider needs to be carried out by the developer to ensure that the final decision on the project is fully informed.

The next stage of the process will be the examination stage when the Fylde Council will provide more details on its views to the Planning Inspectorate along with further evidence to support its position.

Details of all Fylde Council’s representations made on the project to date are available here. For more information relating to the Irish Sea Windfarms, visit our dedicated webpage.

The Morgan and Morecambe Transmission Assets project is regarded as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) which requires a Development Consent Order (DCO). Further explanation of the NSIP process and DCOs are available on the Planning Inspectorate’s website. Progress on the determination of the Development Consent Order required in order to carry out the project is also available on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.

Details of the transmission project are available on the developer’s website.


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