The Electricity (Offshore Generating Stations) (Safety Zones) (Application Procedures and Control of Access) Regulations 2007

Vessels and activities permitted in safety zones

9.—(1) The prohibitions under section 96(1) on a vessel entering and remaining in a safety zone shall not apply if it is a vessel—

(a) belonging to, or acting under the authority of, a government department, the Environment Agency or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and engaged in

(i) the provision of services for,

(ii) the transport of persons or goods to or from, or

(iii) the inspection of,

any existing or proposed renewable energy installation in that safety zone;

(b) belonging to a United Kingdom police force or the armed forces of the Crown, where that force is, or those forces are, acting in the course of its or their powers and duties;

(c) belonging to or acting on behalf of a general lighthouse authority, where it is operating within the area specified in section 193(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 as the area of that authority;

(d) belonging to, or acting on behalf of a harbour authority, where that body is acting in the course of its powers and duties;

(e) belonging to, or acting on behalf of, the Crown Estate, where that body is acting in the exercise of its rights established in a lease or licence relating to a renewable energy installation in that safety zone;

(f) belonging to, or acting on behalf of, the holder of a licence granted under section 6(1)(b)(1) of the Electricity Act 1989(2) where that person is carrying out activities which—

(i) it is authorised by the licence to carry on; and

(ii) relate to offshore transmission (within the meaning of section 92(6));

(g) acting in connection with the saving or attempted saving of life or property, or in connection with training exercises relating to the saving of life or property;

(h) entering or remaining in a safety zone owing to stress of weather or when in distress: or

(i) entering or remaining in a safety zone in connection with an activity mentioned in paragraph (2).

(2) The prohibitions under section 96(2) on a person carrying out activities wholly or partly in a safety zone shall not apply—

(a) in connection with the construction, service, maintenance or decommissioning by an owner or operator of any existing or proposed renewable energy installation in that safety zone;

(b) in connection with the laying, inspection, testing, repair, alteration, renewal or removal of any submarine cable in a safety zone which relates to any existing or proposed renewable energy installation in that zone;

(c) in connection with monitoring activities required to be undertaken by or on behalf of an owner or operator in order to comply with the terms of a statutory consent or licence relating to an existing or proposed renewable energy installation in that safety zone, including but not limited to—

(i) bird monitoring

(ii) benthic investigations; and

(iii) sampling of fish densities; or

(d) in connection with activities undertaken in accordance with paragraph (1).

(1)

Section 6(1)(b) was substituted by section 136 of the Energy Act 2004.

(2)

1989 c.29.