Wildlife experts to prioritise monitoring offshore wind farm's impact on marine species

It comes as plans for a 480 megawatt offshore wind farm 17 miles off the coast of Blackpool were revealed on Monday.

The Crown Estate auctioned off waters around England and Wales for development, and winning bidders Offshore Wind Limited secured the site near the resort with a £44,751,840 deposit.

Altogether, six offshore sites in UK waters have been proposed - making up a project dubbed "round four" - bagging the Crown Estate £9 billion in option fee deposits.

The estate, which owns the seabed off the coast of the UK, said the latest round could help save around 12.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year, or around one fifth of annual household emissions.

But despite this, wildlife experts have warned that offshore developments have a detrimental impact on natural habitats and species in our seas.

North West Wildlife Trusts vowed to ensure all assessments carried out by developers to monitor implications for protected species would be done thoroughly to reduce the harm to nature.

A spokesman for the Trusts said: “The Wildlife Trusts are constantly assessing new proposals for offshore wind farm development and it comes as no surprise to hear of the Round 4 announcement. We’ll be making it a priority to ensure that impacts are thoroughly assessed by The Crown Estate.

"This is essential to ensure that all necessary monitoring, mitigation and compensation will be put in place at an early stage to reduce the harm to nature."

Discussions about more strategic approaches to offshore wind with the Crown Estate and the Government were welcomed, the Wildlife Trusts added, and action to tackle climate change was supported.

But producing green energy needed to be modernised, it said.

"Offshore wind developments are the fastest growing of all marine industries and they are not benign – they damage natural habitats at sea and the marine wildlife that depends on them," the Trusts continued.

"We believe there is space for the right technology in the right place, but efforts to produce green energy must be modernised and should not be built at the expense of the diverse marine habitats, which support the numerous fish, dolphin, whale and birds species found in our seas."