'Impending disaster': air force veteran's court challenge over giant North Sea wind farm

One of Europe’s largest planned offshore wind farms faces a court challenge from a resident furious over its impact on land, in another headache for developers advancing North Sea projects that are crucial to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's goal to make Britain the “Saudi Arabia of wind power”.

Ray Pearce, who lives in Norfolk on the coast of eastern England, has secured the go-ahead from the UK’s High Court to hold a judicial review of consent for Vattenfall’s 1.8GW Norfolk Vanguard project.

Pearce claims the UK government failed to take into account the cumulative impact of onshore transmission works when it granted consent for the wind farm in July, arguing that the combined effect of infrastructure of Norfolk Vanguard, its Vattenfall twin project Norfolk Boreas and Orsted’s giant 2.4GW Hornsea 3 are an “impending disaster” for the area.