Other Permit Awarded

On 1 July 2022, an activity-specific regulatory permit was granted for the Salamander Offshore Wind Farm, covering environmental survey work required to support project development. Marine Scotland’s project page records the issue of a “European Protected Species Licence – Geophysical and Benthic Surveys – Salamander Offshore Wind Farm – 00009866” classified as a licence under the “Other” application type, with the associated date of 2022-07-01. This indicates that the competent authority approved Salamander’s request to conduct geophysical and benthic surveys in an area where European Protected Species may be present, subject to licence conditions designed to manage environmental risks. The same project page also shows that an application for this specific European Protected Species (EPS) licence, referenced with the same identifier 00009866, had previously been submitted on 6 May 2022. The July 2022 licence entry therefore represents the transition from application to approval, confirming that the necessary legal permission for survey activities was secured. The licence is specifically framed around geophysical and benthic surveys, which are essential for understanding seabed conditions and ecological sensitivities within the Salamander development area. This permit award was an important enabling step in Salamander’s early site investigation programme. With the EPS licence in place, the project could proceed with regulated survey operations while remaining compliant with protections for designated species. The resulting survey data would feed into subsequent environmental assessment work and inform later consent and design decisions for the offshore wind farm and its associated infrastructure.