Wales is defined on three sides by the sea, which has played a major part in the history of the country. Many of the coastal waters are imbued with tales from Welsh mythology and until well into this century the maritime connection was a highly significant component of the economy.

While so much is written about the beauty of the Welsh landscape, it is sometimes forgotten that the sea is a crucial element in its appreciation. The mountains of Snowdonia, for example, look spectacularly high because they seem to rise straight out of the sea. The sea is visible from most of the Welsh uplands and, in many cases,constitutes a valuable part of the experience of hill walking and general enjoyment of the countryside. In such landscapes, what happens on the sea, happens on the land as well - the two are inter-related.

It should be no surprise that Wales has the only predominantly coastal National Park in the UK. About 70% of the coastline is now covered by one or more landscape or nature conservation designation.

CPRW recognises that offshore wind power is a new and developing technology and believes that its ultimate success in forming a key element in a renewable energy strategy depends critically on it being deployed in an environmentally sensitive manner.

 CPRW expects the deployment of offshore wind turbines to become an acceptable way of contributing a potentially significant amount of renewable energy to the UK government's 2010 target, and will normally support proposals that do not:

• cause significant detriment to landscape or seascape quality and amenity as experienced from land, or across in-shore water and estuaries;

• adversely affect the natural beauty of an estuary or its setting;

• pose a significantly detrimental threat to the recognised characteristics of
  sites designated for their scientific or wildlife importance.

In particular, CPRW will not support proposals that would seriously affect the quality of views of and from - or the quality of the visitor experience available within - a National Park, AONB or Heritage Coast, and will consider doing so when similar interests are threatened elsewhere, in line with the exceptions stated in Policy 1.

In order to minimise the extent of the impacts of transmission infrastructure at the coast, and of turbine development on the visual qualities of coastal countryside and related seascape, CPRW expects that offshore wind projects would be deployed in large concentrations, at significant distances away from the coast, and under arrangements where joint landfalls would be developed with minimum landscape impact.

CPRW will press for a constraints/search area map to he drawn of coastal waters (12 mile limit or 19.3km) and will be pleased to work closely with CCW, the Crown Estate Commissioners, local planning authorities and other interested parties to agree conditions of constraint and areas of search for offshore wind energy development.

CPRW urges the National Assembly to assert its own role in the decision making process in consultation with CCW and local planning authorities, and to examine the possibility of requiring applicants to use the Transport and Works Act procedure when submitting proposals.

In any event, CPRW will campaign for:

• integrated mechanisms to ensure that offshore and any associated onshore infrastructure developments are assessed as a whole and not separately;

• transparent procedures to assess and determine proposals for offshore wind turbines (including the issue of any licences under the Food and Environmental Protection Act (FEPA) or use of other mechanisms) which would allow CPRW and other Non-Governmental Organisations the opportunity to comment on submissions and to influence the decision making process;

• proposals to be accompanied by a full statutory Environmental Assessment which takes account of the complete life cycle of the development, including a guarantee of effective decommissioning.

March 2000

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