Presentations

Abstract

Since its construction began a decade ago, a UK wind farm has played a significant role in the regeneration of the local area. Whilst this impact is well understood anecdotally, the wind farm owners recognised they had limited evidence to support their claims. This is reflective of wider challenges seen across energy and major infrastructure in terms of understanding and robustly communicating societal value beyond a historical focus on financial indicators of impact. Simetrica-Jacobs was commissioned to undertake a wellbeing-led assessment of changes observed in the local area and communities over the last decade. This used existing datasets to understand how key variables, such as overall subjective wellbeing, and its drivers, such as job satisfaction and sense of community, have evolved in the area over the period that the client have been active in the region. The work has not only given the wind farm owners a better understanding of how impacts have manifested in people and places affected through their presence locally, it has allowed them to compare these changes to trends seen in other communities, helping to better inform subsequent decision making and identification of potential improvements of future community programmes in addressing and maximising total value. The approach taken provides a blueprint for how energy and wider infrastructure projects can better understand, evaluate, and communicate the influence of their presence on the local community beyond purely financial indicators.