THE next round of public consultation on a major wind farm off the Dorset coast has been postponed.

Navitus Bay Development Limited, the joint venture behind the proposed wind farm, has announced that it has decided to reschedule the third round of consultation on the project to February.

A spokesman said that the decision reflects the high level of attendance from the local community at Navitus Bay’s second round of consultation earlier this year, many of whom responded with ideas and suggestions that were of great interest to the development team.

Mike Unsworth, project director of Navitus Bay, said: “It has always been our intention that community consultation has a real bearing on our proposals and this small delay demonstrates this commitment. By rescheduling the consultation, we will be able to dedicate the additional time and resources necessary to fully consider the feedback we have received and identify how we can respond positively given the engineering and environmental constraints of this complex project.

“The extra time will also enable us to produce additional new photo montages showing how the wind park could look from various points along the coast, a 3D fly-through visualisation of the site and onshore cable route, as well as extra surveys of businesses along the coast.

“We will continue to meet and engage constructively with consultees and stakeholder groups over the coming months, and we look forward to providing a comprehensive and detailed overview of how the proposals have evolved in response to public feedback in the new year.”