Cawston Parish Council is actively working with Hornsea 3, together with the local MP, Jerome Mayhew, and the county and district councils, to mitigate the impact of wind farm construction traffic in and around the village.

Construction work on the onshore cable route is due to start in April and reach Cawston around June.

The parish council is waiting for final details of proposed traffic numbers and the construction schedule.

The parish council is also engaging with the Planning Inspectorate hearings on the application by the Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Extension Projects, with the onshore cables due to pass just east of Cawston. These hearings began in January and will continue until July.

Meanwhile, the parish council will be discussing ideas for projects within the parish using community benefit funds, and residents are invited to come up with any ideas for projects.

Community groups and individuals are encouraged to prepare their own applications and the parish council will support any viable projects.

The council continues to meet with potential funders and is working with other groups in the village.

Information regarding the community benefit fund can be found on the parish council’s website and Facebook page.

Cawston Parish Council is made up of 11 members, all of whom give up their time to serve the local community.

The parish council meets on the third Thursday of each month at 7 pm in the village hall, High Street.

All parishioners are welcome to attend and there is an item on the agenda when members of the public can raise issues they wish to be considered.

At its January meeting the parish council set the budget for the next financial year, deciding to make no increase in the parish precept.

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Both of these wind farms are situated off the north Norfolk coast and the expansion would power the equivalent of an additional 785,000 UK homes.

If approved, the 60-kilometre onshore cable route from these extension projects could affect a number of villages in the Reepham district.

The cables will come ashore at Weybourne, before being installed in a trench heading south, passing to the east of Cawston, towards a new substation near the existing National Grid facility at Swardeston.

The cable trench is also planned to pass near Saxthorpe, Heydon, Brandiston, Swannington, Attlebridge and Weston Longville.

The Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company said that, following extensive consultation, it has integrated several design changes into the extension projects to mitigate local disruption.

This will include trenchless crossings of all A and B roads and 20 other local roads; construction of a “haul road” along the cable route to reduce the number of access points and heavy goods vehicle movements on the local road network; and the repositioning of numerous construction access locations.

As proposed Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects there will be a series of hearings and deadlines over a six-week period lasting until 14 November.

People and organisations can register as “interested parties” by sending a short email to sadep@planninginspectorate.gov.uk, asking to register as an IP, with your name, address and email.

You will then be informed of dates and deadlines, with a greater weight given to your submissions and a chance to speak at hearings.

Cawston Parish Council said that, while it is fully supportive of renewable energy and the drive to net zero, it is also concerned about the impact of these projects locally and has been working to reduce the effects on the community.

The parish council is now looking for residents who can help with building up its case and arguments for submission to the Planning Inspectorate.

No particular skills or experience are needed, just a bit of spare time and the willingness to go through some documents online. If you can help, please email cawstonpc@yahoo.co.uk

See our earlier stories:

• Public information events for offshore wind farm extensions
• Equinor updates on offshore wind farm extensions
• Another offshore windfarm cable corridor could hit local villages

The post Equinor’s application accepted for offshore wind farm extensions appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

The postponement was at the request of the Planning Inspectorate to extend the examination period for the development consent order application to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

In particular, several hearings have had to be cancelled in recent weeks, potentially resulting in interested parties not being given a fair opportunity to participate in the examination, according to the Planning Inspectorate.

In addition, a number of interested parties no longer had the capacity to participate in the examination process as a result of Covid-19 resource prioritisation.

However, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy expects the Planning Inspectorate “to make best efforts to complete the examination process as soon as is reasonably practicable within the extended period”.

The inspectorate will publish a new examination process timetable by 19 May.

Greg Peck, county councillor for the Reepham Division, said: “I am pleased that the secretary of state has agreed to an extension of the examination for five months.

“Due to the Covid-19 crisis a number of public meetings and hearings have been cancelled curtailing the input of interested parties.

“Myself, our MP [Jerome Mayhew], affected parish councils and concerned residents, in particular Chris Monk who leads Cawston Parish Council’s response to the cable applications, have all been pushing for this.

“I thank the secretary of state for listening to us. This will ensure that residents will have their concerns fully listened to and considered.

“We now have five more months to convince the inspectors that the applicant needs to provide an acceptable traffic management plan that will avoid thousands of extra HGV movements through the centre of Cawston.”

Norfolk Boreas is a 1.8 GW offshore wind project located next to Vattenfall’s sister project, Norfolk Vanguard. It covers an area of 725 km² and is located some 72 km off the Norfolk coast at its nearest point.

The project will include up to 180 turbines with a minimum individual capacity of 10 MW, installed on fixed-bottom foundations.

Denmark’s Ørsted also plans to build a large offshore wind farm, Hornsea Project Three, with the onshore cable trenches planned to cross those of the Vattenfall projects just north of Reepham.

Meanwhile, Norwegian company Equinor has announced plans to extend the Dudgeon and Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farms, with a new cable trench east of Cawston.

See our earlier stories:

• Decision on offshore wind farms now expected in June
• Local councils push for offshore ring main
• Another wind farm decision delayed owing to Cawston traffic issues
• Another offshore windfarm cable corridor could hit local villages

The post Offshore wind farm examination period extended due to Covid-19 appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

All the aircrew were killed: Flt Lt John Frutiger, Flt Sgt Robert Chanin, Flt Sgt John Hill and Flt Sgt Robert Gapp of No. 61 Squadron RAF.

After a service in St Agnes’ Cawston, the memorial plaque was unveiled by Cawston Parish Council chairman Brian Schuil, which was followed by laying of wreaths.

The church service and plaque dedication ceremony, led by Revd Andrew Whitehead, was attended by a large contingent of Cawston residents, along with representatives of the Royal British Legion and relatives of the airmen. A bugler played the Last Post and there was a flypast by two aircraft.

Des Cook, Cawston Historical Society

See our earlier story:

• Plaque to be unveiled for WWII bomber crash

The post Dedication of memorial plaque for WWII bomber crash appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

From an idea generated earlier in the year the event grew and came to fruition following a sustained publicity campaign, including a gruelling letterbox programme drop for miles around the village.

The show was held under the auspices of Cawston Parish Council with the guiding hands of Stephanie and Dick Spencer, Sarah and Andy Hellewell, Trudie and Paul Wilkinson, Jane Buttifant and Andy Welton.

On the day, the tables in Cawston Village Hall could be seen groaning under the weight of carrots, leeks, apples, cake, pies made with fruit from the from the primary school’s orchard, flowers, table decorations and other produce too numerous to mention.

The walls were gorgeously decorated with sunflower images made by the school’s various classes.

The competitions were judged by local experts, and red rosettes awarded for first place and certificates for second and third.

Donated produce was auctioned by an apprentice from the local auction house, and money was also raised from the tombola, where a large number of prizes were carried off by happy Cawstonites.

The standard of entries was high, and the level of commitment and interest from so many villagers ensures that another event will be held next year.

The date will be made known before Christmas; so look out for this so you can organise your garden – and your pantry – in plenty of time.

All prize details will be posted on the parish council noticeboards.

Tina Sutton

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The level of disturbance caused seems to depend on atmospheric conditions, and is loudest and most disruptive on still evenings and nights. If you walk on Marriott’s Way you may have noticed this noise, and certain areas of Cawston seem to be more affected than others.

Residents report that previous attempts to engage the company responsible for the substation have not proved fruitful: the company has been dismissive of the problem and has tried to prove the noise does not exist – and if it does, that it is not of a sufficient level to constitute a nuisance.

Led by James Livingstone, Steve Mumby and Paul Sutton, a group of residents have now got together, with the backing of Cawston Par­ish Council, to co-ordinate an organised response to this situation.

“We are just asking for the chance to have a proper dialogue with the company and for them to present some options for mitigating the problem,” the group said. “We are trying to represent the views of all concerned to resolve this issue, which could last for at least another 50 years.

“We recently met with our local Broadland District Councillor, James Joyce, to discuss this matter and arranged for Broadland’s environmental health officer Tony Garland and a representative from the electricity company to come to Cawston in July to monitor the problem with specialist equipment.

“We intend to represent local views by holding further discussions with Broadland District Council and Statkraft, which is now responsible for the substation after taking over from Scira which built it, and also with our MP, Keith Simpson. This is as much as we can do at present until we get further support from other people affected by this ongoing problem.

“To resolve this quickly we need to de­monstrate the strength of local feeling and require the electricity company to acoustically insulate the substation if they get enough complaints. It will be no good complaining later if we lose the initiative we have gained so far.”

• If you have any queries or wish to help, please contact: James Livingstone 01603 872078, Steve Mumby 01603 871543 or Paul Sutton 01603 872441, or email cawstonhum@gmail.com

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