Representation by Jonathan Sinclair
- Date submitted
- 23 January 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Dear Sirs, I write to object not to the development of windfarms mentioned in this application but to the onshore facilities and the lack of overall context in which the application is presented. I object specifically to the proposal to site substations and connecting facilities adjacent to a local inland village with a unique historical heritage. I appeal to government to intervene and develop a strategic plan to coordinate this and future windfarms together with the separate Sizewell C project instead of considering it as one of many applications which taken together, create a significant threat to our natural and human environment. Mega-projects of this kind should respect our heritage, the environment as well as meeting the long-term energy needs of the country. This application is only one constituent part of a series of developments, which threaten an AONB, the local economy and the livelihood and lifestyle of an entire community. The proposed project surpasses the scale of anything in the UK and beyond and takes no account of consequential and separate energy related projects proposed for the area. I support the recommendations of the focus group SASES http://sases.org.uk/ and recommend you to their website to understand the feelings of the community. My specific objections are based on: - HUMAN IMPACT • Financial impact on businesses (including my own) • Quality of life damaged by noise and light pollution • Change of overall environment by transformation into industrial zone. LANDSCAPE • Severe landscape and visual harm. • Destruction of the environs of Friston and consequential damages to the community. HERITAGE • Site is ringed by listed buildings • Applicant visualisations/viewpoints are misleading LAND USE • Substantial loss of Grade 2 and 3 agricultural land LIGHT POLLUTION • Impact vastly understated. Have the applicants provided any comparable sites built anywhere in the world for benchmarking? SOCIO ECONOMIC – ONSHORE • Damage to tourism – loss of local jobs FOOTPATHS & PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY The footpath from Little Moor Farm will be permanently closed. The village will dwarfed by a massive industrial complex. ONSHORE ECOLOGY • Permanent removal of approx. 30 acres of wildlife habitat across the substation site; SUBSTATION DESIGN ISSUES • The visual impact of the proposed substation is underestimated. No realistic benchmark has been made of similar sites anywhere in the world. • Current SPR design principles only concerned with the visual appearance of building structures, not engineering elements. NOISE • The reference level now proposed remains unacceptably high for a residential area by any reasonable standards. Please refer to SASES research which points out: - 1. Harmonic Filters now identified as noisiest items are unscreened 2. SPR claim of no ‘humming’ noise but tonality should be questioned 3. Without a ‘Tonality’ correction, noise levels may be almost 3 x greater than attributed TRAFFIC & TRANSPORT • Proposals may lead to years of congestion impacting on towns such as Aldeburgh which have only one road in and out to serve the local community for normal and accident and emergency services. CABLE CORRIDOR ISSUES • Please refer to the relevant SASES representations of 27 January 2020