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Project Findings

Questionnaire findings

To get a good data sample, this questionnaire was posted across a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn during the month of April 2021.

 

Below is a summary of key findings from the data gathered via the online questionnaire:​​​

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  • ​​A total of 198 people have responded to the questionnaire

  • Interestingly, nearly 40% of respondents were aged 18-25 and over 70% were female (see below​​)

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  • 47% of the sample were employed, and 27% were students, while 15% were retired (see below)

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  • Nearly 50% of the respondents were from Seaford or Brighton (see below)

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  • Over 98% of people think electricity should be produced sustainably (see below)

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  • 67% felt positively towards the Rampion Wind Farm before construction. Positivity increased by almost 14% after the completion of the Phase 1 construction (see below).  This confirms the findings of Heidenrich (2016) and Hagget (2008) that this occurs for almost all wind farm developments in the UK and Europe.

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  • Although less than 30% of respondents are aware of Phase 2 of the Rampion Wind Farm's development, more than double that figure are in support of increasing the number of wind turbines off the East Sussex coast.  Most people (i.e. nearly 85%) do not know the proposed number of new turbines that are being planned for (see below).

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  • On an educational basis, most respondents believe boat tours are a positive way of improving knowledge and understanding about wind farms in general (see below).

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Online interview findings

In order to gather vital information about the Rampion Wind Farm's operations and how it is covered in local/national media, I conducted an online interview with RWE/Rampion Wind Farm Governance and Stakeholder Manager, Jennifer Donn.  The interview took place on Tuesday 13th April 2021.

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During the interview, I asked Jennifer questions about Rampion's workforce.  I also asked her a series of questions inspired from comments made by the survey respondents.  Many comments expressed concern about the cost-effectiveness of maintaining an offshore wind farm and in addition its potential negative impact on local wildlife. 

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Here is a summary of the key findings gathered from the interview:​

  • Workforce - Rampion has approximately 55-60 permanent members of staff and 12 offshore technicians that work during the summer months.

  • Qualifications - engineering degrees/qualifications and NVQs are required to work there.

  • Rampion Wind Farm offers apprenticeships across a wide variety of technical and engineering roles.

  • Boat tours - Rampion is not affiliated with charters or boat companies like Brighton Diver.

    • Brighton Diver is an independent tour guide operating from Brighton.

    • At present, Rampion does not offer its own tours guides.

  • Wildlife and marine surveys - Rampion has carried out extensive wildlife and marine surveys before construction began on their wind farm, to reduce the negative impact of their developments.

  • Education/visitor centre - Rampion hosts one of their legacy projects at the Rampion Visitor Centre in Brighton.

  • Media coverage - coverage of the Rampion Wind Farm has been very positive and has become increasingly so over the course of time from inception to completion (2010-2018).

Phone interview: main findings

To gather key information about how Rampion manages its PR, I conducted a phone interview with Rampion Wind Farm Development and Stakeholder Manager, Chris Tomlinson.  The interview took place on Monday 17th May 2021.

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During the interview, I asked Chris questions about how Rampion managed its PR and how people's attitudes have changed concerning wind farms in general.  I also asked him whether Rampion's promotional strategies have been modified for promoting the Rampion 2 expansion project. 

 

In summary, I gained much useful information about Rampion's PR strategies and how they promoted their projects to various stakeholders and the general public.

Below is a summary of the key findings gathered from the phone interview:​​

  • Prior to construction, two large PR challenges faced by Rampion were: 1) a wind farm did not yet exist in East Sussex. 2) attempting to win over people unfamiliar with this form of sustainable energy production.

  • Rampion attempted to reach approximately 1m people across Sussex about the project.

  • Project Liaison Groups (PLGs) are very important because they represent the local community.

  • PLGs and representatives from various stakeholder organisations act as conduits between the Rampion Wind Farm and their stakeholders.

  • Sponsorships were formed to raise awareness of the project, including the Brighton Children's Festival, the Newhaven Fish Festival and Brighton Ice Rink.

  • Public information events were held in Brighton in 2011.

  • Formal consultation took place between Feb-May 2012 across a period of 12 weeks.

  • 390,000 flyers were sent out to local residents.

  • Preview events were held by the media and government MPs.

  • In September 2015, Rampion hosted a ferry trip for the general public (including 30 VIPs) to see the wind farm up close.

  • Rampion Wind Farm hopes to follow similar PR strategies for the Rampion 2 expansion;  advertising, including posters, radio adverts, and bus posters.

  • Rampion also plans to encourage the local community to have a say in the expansion project by creating more PLGs.

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