# The Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm Order 2025, Paragraph 12: Protected species onshore

Extent: E+W

(1) No stage of the onshore works other than surveying and investigation necessary to comply with this requirement may be undertaken until, for that stage, pre-construction survey work has been carried out to establish whether a European protected species or nationally protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 is present on any of the land affected, or likely to be affected, by any part of that stage of the onshore works.
(2) The compensatory works other than surveying and investigation necessary to comply with this requirement may not be undertaken until, for those works, pre-construction survey work has been carried out to establish whether a European protected species or nationally protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 is present on any of the land affected, or likely to be affected, by any part of the compensatory works.
(3) Where a European protected species or nationally protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 is shown to be present, the stage of the onshore works or compensatory works likely to affect the species must not be commenced until a scheme of protection and mitigation measures for that stage has been submitted to ... the discharging authority in the case of the onshore works, or the relevant planning authority in the case of compensatory works.
(4) Each stage of the onshore works or the compensatory works which requires a scheme of protection and mitigation measures in accordance with sub-paragraph (3) of this requirement must be carried out in accordance with the approved scheme as applicable in each stage.
(5) In this paragraph, “European protected species” has the same meaning as in regulations 42 (European protected species of animals) and 46 (European protected species of plants) of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/1376/schedule/2/paragraph/12 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/five-estuaries-offshore-wind-farm-order-2025/schedule-2/paragraph-12
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.