Fylde council will not challenge controversial wind farm decision in 'bitter disappointment'

Fylde Council have said they will not legally challenge the approval of a controversial wind farm in the region. The Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Wind Farms Transmission Assets will see wind turbines built in the Irish Sea, with a 'cable corridor' running from Starr Gate in Blackpool through the Fylde and across to an electricity substation in Penwortham.

It has been beset by controversy, with many residents and politicians opposing the plans before they were approved by the Planning Inspectorate in September.

After the government approval, Fylde Council sought specialist external legal advice to try and challenge the decision. However, they say they have been informed the legal challenge threshold has not been met.

It is not yet known when work will now commence on the plans.

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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."

Council had been against the plans

Fylde Council said the decision to approve the plans departs from the key findings of the Examining Authority's report. It says there is no assurance that benefits claimed for the project will ever be realised, particularly given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the financial viability of the Morgan scheme.

The council says they set of evidence-based objections throughout the examination process, highlighting the destruction to the countryside and local communities. According to them, these were recognised and the Examining Authority recognised refusal.

Following the announcement that the plans had been approved, Fylde Council sought specialist external legal advice to try and challenge the decision. The advice which has been received, they say is clear and definitive - the legal challenge threshold has not been met.

The council say any attempt to litigate will expose them and therefore the local taxpayers, to potentially severe and uncapped financial liabilities. Other individuals and bodies may be able to rely on legal and financial protections that are not available to local authorities.

The bulk of the opposition to the proposals centred on the route the cables are set to take, with some saying it will tear through the Fylde's countryside. Andrew Snowden and Lorraine Beavers made a last minute desperate plea to rethink the plans before the decision was made, hoping for the plans to be rethought into the 'Northern Route', their campaign for the cabling infrastructure to be led to the Hillhouse site in Stanah, near Thornton instead.