The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) licensed Westermost Rough Ltd (WMR Ltd) to construct the Westermost Rough Offshore Wind Farm in November 2011. The work includes constructing a 35-turbine wind farm off the east coast of England, with the closest turbine being about 8 kilometres from the shore.

In late February 2014, MMO and the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) began to be contacted by residents of Withernsea about noise disturbance. MMO worked with ERYC and the developer to identify, monitor and analyse noise, which included installing monitoring equipment in residents’ homes.

MMO decided on Friday, May 2, 2014 to vary the marine licence to restrict piling activity, which was identified as the source of noise, after reviewing and discussing monitoring data with ERYC and WMR Ltd. MMO introduced a condition that permits monopile foundations to be installed between 7am and 11pm only.