SCHEDULE 14Deemed licence under the 2009 Act – offshore transmission assets

PART 2Conditions

Pre-construction monitoring and surveysI116

1

The undertaker must, in discharging condition 13(1)(c), submit details (which accord with the in principle monitoring plan) for written approval by the MMO in consultation with the relevant statutory bodies of proposed pre-construction surveys, including methodologies (including appropriate buffers, where relevant) and timings, and a proposed format and content for a pre-construction baseline report; and

a

the survey proposals must specify each survey’s objectives and explain how it will assist in either informing a useful and valid comparison with the post-construction position and/or will enable the validation or otherwise of key predictions in the environmental statement; and

b

the baseline report proposals must ensure that the outcome of the agreed surveys together with existing data and reports are drawn together to present a valid statement of the pre-construction position, with any limitations, and must make clear what post-construction comparison is intended and the justification for this being required.

2

The pre-construction surveys referred to in sub-paragraph (1) must, unless otherwise agreed with the MMO, have due regard to, but not be limited to, the need to undertake—

a

a survey to determine the location and extent of any Sabellaria spinulosa reef inside the area(s) within the Order limits in which it is proposed to carry out construction works;

b

a full sea floor coverage swath-bathymetry survey undertaken to IHO Order 1a standard that meets the requirements of MGN654 and its annexes, and side scan sonar, of the area(s) within the Order limits in which it is proposed to carry out construction works including an appropriate buffer area around the site of each work, inclusive of seabed anomalies or sites of historic or archaeological interest that lie within the buffer;

c

any marine mammal monitoring required by the monitoring plan submitted in accordance with condition 13(1)(c); and

d

any ornithological monitoring required by the monitoring plan submitted in accordance with condition 13(1)(c).

3

The undertaker must carry out the surveys agreed under sub-paragraph (1) and provide the baseline report to the MMO in the agreed format in accordance with the agreed timetable, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the MMO in consultation with the relevant statutory nature conservation bodies.