A sermon on Tottington Mount

Tottington Mount versus the Rampion trench
Readers of the Yr Arolygiaeth Gynllunio report [PDF] cannot help but notice that the inspectors were much exercised by Tottington Mount. It is discussed or referenced on no fewer than 32 pages. By contrast, there isn’t a single reference to Truleigh Hill anywhere.

Tottington Mount lies between the Truleigh Hill Youth Hostel and Tottington Manor Farm. There is a public footpath opposite the farm that will take you up and across the mount. It is extremely steep for much of the route. Apart from the splendid view to the north, there’s not much to see. You will pass a long low earthwork as you near the summit. The mount itself just looks like canonical downland to an inexpert eye. As the map above indicates, the trench will bisect the mount.

Tottington Mount is a virgin patch of Downs that has never been ploughed. As a consequence, it hosts noteworthy plant species (page 57). The works area for the trench is to narrow from 30-40 metres to 20-30 metres as it cuts across the area (page 94). E.ON will be spending £330K on bog matting and other mitigation expenses on this small section of the trench (page 38). Some details of the mitigation plans, and the SDNPA’s scepticism about them, can be found on pages 57-58. The inspectors think that these mitigation efforts may well fail (page 41). The trench will skirt the Beeding Hill to Newtimber Hill SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) with a margin of about 50 yards at Tottington Mount. Disturbance to the chalk grassland species living within the SSSI will be ‘negligible’, apparently. Indeed, these species are set to benefit significantly from all the environmental monitoring that will be happening at Tottington Mount as part of the mitigation exercise (pages 52-53). However, Adonis Blue caterpillars may not share this upbeat view — they risk losing their lunch (pages 67-68).

The earthwork is a Bronze Age cross dyke and is listed as an ancient monument. The trench will go right through it (click the map above to see the detail of this), something that English Heritage refers to as a “substantial harmful effect” (page 178). The good news is that archaeologists will be funded to root around in the rubble — “appropriate archaeological supervision” (page 179, pages 398-399) — and English Heritage felt able to rule that “the harm is necessary in order to deliver substantial public benefits that outweigh the harm” (page 178). In turn, the inspectors concluded that there will be “be no loss of significance of any designated or undesignated heritage asset” (page 182) notwithstanding the “risk of adverse effects upon heritage assets, including the Tottington Mount Scheduled Ancient Monument” (page 227).

GJMG

Trench traffic

Trench traffic Edburton Road
Local residents who still haven’t found time to read the report [PDF 5,900 pages] may be wondering what impact the trench is going to have on them. The answer, at least for those who live to the east of Truleigh Manor Farm, appears to be “not a lot”.

The main construction compound for the entire trench will be at the side of Edburton Road (page 153) and about 100m x 50m in size (page 159). The report itself does not show exactly where this compound will be located but it seems safe to assume that it will be very close to the point where the trench intersects the road (see above). Given the route that the trench will take, the main works traffic from this compound will use the A2037 rather than coming through Fulking and Poynings. There will be some temporary disruption to Horn Lane and to the A281 in Woodmancote when the trench is cut across them.

Minister approved trench today

A cable trench
The West Sussex County Times reports:

Onshore construction is expected to start in 2015 and the project including the offshore installation will take four years to complete.

The Argus adds:

For the wind farm to go ahead the company will need to make a final investment decision on the project, and apply for subsidies.

You will surely also want to read the 590-page report from Yr Arolygiaeth Gynllunio: Rampion Offshore Wind Farm and connection works — Examining Authority’s Report of Findings and Conclusions and Recommendation to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change [PDF].

The route of the envisaged trench through Edburton is shown here.

Iconic views


The Sussex Express reports the Director of Planning for the South Downs National Park, Tim Slaney, as saying:

The Rampion wind farm proposals would harm the landscape and cultural heritage of the South Downs National Park introducing 175 turbines into the iconic views from the Sussex Heritage Coast and cause large scale disruption to the landscape of the National Park through the construction of a 14km long and 30m wide cable corridor.

The South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA), which attended 11 days of public examination and submitted in excess of 270 pages of evidence, recommended that the Secretary of State should refuse to grant permission to ensure that the landscape and cultural heritage of the National Park is conserved.

Meet the Buyer

Meet the buyer
E.ON will be hosting a Rampion Offshore Wind Farm Meet the Buyer event at the Amex Stadium, Brighton on Wednesday 26th February 2014 from 10.00am. The aim of the event is to inform local businesses of the opportunities that may exist during the construction and operation of the project.

Survey work on trench begins

Surveying the route of the trench
The West Sussex County Times is reporting that work on surveying the trench is about to begin:

Chris Tomlinson, E.ON Development Manager for the project, said: “Over the next few weeks we’ll be carrying out surveys at various sites along the cable route to help us understand the makeup of the soil and the impact construction may have on the ground. We’ll also be working to identify areas of archaeological importance by digging trenches that will enable us to plan the most appropriate monitoring and protection during construction. Weather permitting, the work will begin at the end of October and is expected to take six to eight weeks.”

Anyone [who] has any questions about the survey works should email rampion@eon.com or call 01273 603 721.