Representation by Andrea Smith
- Date submitted
- 21 January 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Four years ago I bought a cottage in Friston with a view to retiring here. It is an area I have been visiting regularly for the past 40 years. It is an area known and loved for its peace and tranquility, stunning natural environment, dark skies and minimal invasive development. An area loved by artists, musicians, writers. I chose the village carefully, being aware of the proposals for a new nuclear build at Sizewell and its potential impact. I did not come across any information whatsoever about the threats from onshore windfarm infrastructure in the area. Since hearing about the onshore windfarm infrastructure proposals I have participated actively in all consultations and written a number of letters to all the relevant parties. I would like to stress I am very much in favour of the windfarms. What deeply concerns me is the lack of overall strategy and poor transparency in the development of the proposals. I am particularly concerned about the lack of consideration given to the cumulative impacts of a great number of energy proposals that will destroy irreversibly a huge section of this area and sever the Suffolk AONB. The most sensible way forward for the North Sea windfarms is to reactivate the 2012 proposals for an offshore ringmain and hub. For a project as exciting and important as the offshore wind industry, it is a massive shame that it has not been strategically developed, instead being conducted in a chaotic and piecemeal fashion with absolutely no regard for the social, environmental and economic impacts on people living in the area. This is an area of outstanding natural beauty and relies heavily on tourists and visitors. I beg you not to grant the planning application until there has been a full public enquiry and sufficient consideration given to all of the cumulative impacts of all the energy proposals and alternative ways forward using for example brownfield sites that would not destroy an area of such environmental importance and beauty.