18. Socio-economics

18.1. Introduction

present the existing environmental baseline established from desk-based surveys;
identify any assumptions and limitations encountered in compiling the environmental information;
present the environmental impacts on socio-economics arising from the Array and reach a conclusion on the LSE1 on socio-economics, based on the information gathered and the analysis and assessments undertaken; and
highlight any necessary monitoring and/or mitigation measures which are recommended to prevent, minimise, reduce or offset the likely significant adverse environmental effects of the Array on socio-economics

While a significant proportion of the activity associated with the Array is expected to take place offshore, the relevant study areas for the socio-economic assessment are located onshore.
The socio-economics study areas for the assessment of effects on employment and economy have been defined in line with the guidance on identification of ‘local areas’ for offshore developments published by Marine Scotland (Marine Scotland, 2022). This guidance identified six principles for identifying local study areas for offshore development:

Principle 1 (Dual Geographies): The local area for the supply chain and investment impacts should be separate from the local area(s) for wider socio-economic impacts.
Principle 2 (Appropriate Impacts): The appropriate impacts to be considered for assessments should be identified before defining the local areas.
Principle 3 (Epicentres): The local areas should include all the epicentres of the appropriate impacts.
Principle 4 (Accountability): The local areas used in the assessment should comprise of pre-existing economic or political geographies (community councils, local authorities, development agencies) to enhance accountability.
Principle 5 (Understandable): The local areas should be defined in such a way that they are understandable to the communities they describe.
Principle 6 (Connected Geography): The local area for the supply chain and investment impacts should consist of connected (including coastal) pre-existing economic or political geographies.

The main local epicentres of impact (Principle 3: Epicentres of Impact) are expected to be the ports used during the construction and operation and maintenance phases of the Array. These ports may also be used during the decommissioning phase, however, the nature of port facilities required for the decommissioning phase of the Array is unknown at the time of writing.
At this stage the specific ports are not known, and therefore the following socio-economic study areas have been considered:

“the Construction Port”, which consists of the local authority area(s) relevant for each potential construction port(s) (construction phase only);
“the Operation and Maintenance Port”, which consists of the local authority area(s) relevant for each operation and maintenance port(s) (operation and maintenance phase only);
Scotland; and
the United Kingdom (UK).

While ports are not known, a list of potential ports for the construction and operational and maintenance phases have been considered to identify the maximum design scenario ( Table 18.1 Open ▸ and Table 18.2 Open ▸ ). This was based on an independent assessment of port capabilities (Crown Estate Scotland, 2020). In each case the relevant local study areas were defined based on where the majority of local employees are likely to live. This has been determined based on local authority areas (Principle 4: Accountability; Principle 5: Understandable) that the ports are based in or which are in the immediate vicinity (Principle 6: Connected Geography). The defined local study areas for each potential port are summarised in Table 18.1 Open ▸ and Table 18.2 Open ▸ for potential construction ports and operation and maintenance ports, respectively.
The long lists of local study areas for the Construction Port and the Operation and Maintenance Port have been used to identify the locations that might be expected to be most sensitive to change and so would represent the maximum design scenario for the economic and social impact assessments.

Although some ports from the Highland local authority area listed in Table 18.1 Open ▸ and Table 18.2 Open ▸ are located on the west coast of Scotland, these have been listed for completeness; the construction and operation and maintenance ports most likely to be used by the Applicant will be on the east coast of Scotland, and there is no intention for construction or operation and maintenance vessels to travel round the north of Scotland in order to traverse between the Array and the construction/operation and maintenance port(s).