Responding to your feedback
We based our first round of consultation on the feedback from the communities around the site. A survey proposed various ideas based on the feedback from discussions with community councils, local experts and other local people within the region. The survey was organised into three key themes and we asked respondents to rank the ideas in order of personal importance (see below).
What we learned from our consultation
- Feedback on the original site was it was too large and close to local villages – so we reduced the size of the site accordingly
- Local communities feel there are lots of community benefit funds and not enough ‘big ideas’ or tangible outcomes that benefit the area as a whole, especially local people in their homes
- Communities often don’t have the time or capacity to develop projects themselves or take advantage of existing community benefit funds
- We need to think about jobs and skills beyond the supply chain and construction phase, maximising long term, skilled employment opportunities through the use of the community benefit fund
What we learned from our consultation
- The energy transition needs to work for communities and ideally energy bills should reduce for those near the wind farm.
- That local communities have a strong sense of identity within the area and want to preserve the heritage of the place they call home
- That communities want to be active in making decisions that affect them, e.g. how the benefit funds are spent. Communities are keen on ownership either as part of the project or to have community land they can use
- Nature needs to be at the centre of our approach, and the site should improve biodiversity, carbon capture, and provide access for communities
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