18.6.2.3 Impact 3: Interference and Damage to Sub-sea Cables and Pipelines 98. During the operation phase, there is the potential for maintenance activities to interfere with sub-sea cables and pipelines. Maintenance activities may include cable repair work which could entail the use of jack-up vessels and the deployment of anchors. It is expected that any such activity will be subject to the same principles and agreements as established during the construction phase (see construction impact 3, section 18.6.1.3).
99. Due to the potential to interfere with power distribution and telecommunications, the sensitivity of the receptor is high. However, the likelihood of damage to existing cables during such maintenance work is remote and due to the implementation of embedded mitigation through cable crossing agreements, the magnitude of the impact is predicted to be negligible. Therefore, an impact ofminor adverse significance is predicted.
18.6.2.4 Impact 4: Disruption to Aggregate Extraction Activity 100. No aggregate licence areas are situated within the proposed East Anglia THREE project, therefore it is not anticipated that operational activities associated with East Anglia THREE will have any significant impacts on existing extraction activities. Although licence area 430 is in close proximity to the offshore cable corridor (Figure 18.2), vessel activity associated with the operation of East Anglia THREE will be significantly reduced in comparison with the construction phase. Therefore, impacts relating to vessel interactions and access are likely to be extremely limited. Based on this information, the sensitivity of the receptor and magnitude of the impact are both considered to be negligible, therefore the impact is predicted to be of negligible significance.
18.6.2.5 Impact 5: Disruption to oil and Gas Activities 101. As discussed in construction impact 5 (section 18.6.1.5) there are planned on-going oil and gas operations in licensed blocks overlapping with the proposed East Anglia THREE project. EATL would continue to engage with any relevant oil and gas developers during operation of the windfarm. A programme of consultation throughout the life of the development would be the forum to discuss any impacts that may arise from operation of East Anglia THREE and enable any impacts to be mitigated as far as possible. This will ensure that with necessary planning and engagement, disruption due to the operation of East Anglia THREE will be avoided.
102. Therefore the magnitude of the impact is predicted to be negligible and although the receptor is considered to be of national importance the integrity of the resource would not be affected and therefore an impact of negligible significance is predicted.
Preliminary Environmental Information May 2014
East Anglia THREE Offshore Windfarm
Chapter 18 Infrastructure and other users Page 31
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