Award of Further Research to Support the SEIA for the Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Ener...

Tender description

The Scottish Government Offshore Wind Directorate, on behalf of Scottish Ministers, invites a tender from a suitable contractor, to conduct a social research study using focus groups or a similar qualitative, deliberative in-depth methodology. This project is intended to build on and further develop the findings obtained from desk based socio-economic impact assessments (SEIAs) that are currently being conducted to support the Iterative Plan Review of the Sectoral Marine Plans for Offshore Wind Energy (SMP-OWE) and Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas decarbonisation (INTOG). The SMP-OWE and INTOG set the strategic policy and spatial framework for the sustainable development of offshore wind energy in Scottish waters, which is implemented by subsequent leasing, licensing and consenting processes. To support the development of the SMP-OWE and INTOG, environmental and ex-ante SEIAs have been commissioned and are currently being delivered. These assessments set out potential impacts expected to be caused by offshore wind developments. However, the approach being used for the SEIAs is limited in scope, focusing primarily on economic impacts, with social impacts assessed through scenarios, and does not include any primary data collection with the key stakeholder groups and communities that are likely to be affected. Whilst the Offshore Wind Directorate will engage directly with stakeholder groups such as fishers, and other marine users, through other avenues, there is still a gap in relation to the views of members of the public/local communities. This project therefore intends to address this gap. The project will involve primary data collection, using qualitative, deliberative focus groups (or a similar method) to gather first hand perspectives of local communities who may be affected by the policies in the plans, and to explore, test and refine the findings of the first iteration of the desk-based SEIA. The project will provide timely and robust evidence that will be fed into the plan development process alongside the Sustainability Appraisal (SA). The SA is then used to inform the final adopted plans, to identify any appropriate plan-level mitigation measures and to inform future consenting decisions. The project is being delivered under the auspices of the Scottish Marine Energy Research Programme (ScotMER). This programme is headed up by the Offshore Wind Directorate to coordinate the strategic delivery of the research needed to provide evidence to reduce uncertainty on the impacts of offshore wind development in Scotland on local communities.