Representation by Amanda Mallett
- Date submitted
- 23 January 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am a resident of Friston who values the tranquillity of this historic village. I occupy an 18th century house in the middle of the village which is ringed by other listed buildings. My main objection is that the proposed development of more than 35 acres of industrial buildings and concrete in a greenfield site in the countryside just a few hundred metres from Friston Village is too close. This will affect villagers’ homes property including the setting of the Grade II* listed church which dates back to the 14th century and is regularly used for worship. The impact on loss of grade 2 and 3 agricultural land has also been understated. The substations will dwarf Friston village and will be visible from all routes into the village. The complex will permanently blight Friston village and the surrounding area, and will be detrimental to quality of life and the value of their property. The construction itself will be very disruptive and will leave an unacceptable legacy of negative visual impact, potential of anti-social noise and light pollution. Friston village already suffers from flooding, and because of the unsuitable nature of the site, risk of surface water flooding will be increased to an unacceptable level. This will have significant impact on residents’ homes in the vicinity. Furthermore the local field are full of rare wildlife including bats, badgers and barn owls which all keep us company Friston location. Destruction of their habitat is unacceptable. The same goes for loss of amenity, well used footpaths and village allotments which are valued by the local residents. Another significant concern is that this planning application only applies to East Anglia ONE North and East Anglia TWO offshore windfarm. However it will set a precedent which would threaten other towns and villages in East Anglia. I consider site selection has been defective because it has not taken National Grid works into account. The biggest concern here is that the Friston site will be extended and further blighted by more installations. Most alarming is that National Grid will require further onshore infrastructure. This includes grid scale energy storage, needed to mitigate the effects of intermittency with wind power, as well as the proposed Nautilus interconnector project will provides high voltage under-sea cabling between Great Britain and Belgium. It is likely that East Suffolk will suffer disproportionately than other parts of the country. There will be few new jobs created in the region whilst at the same time tourism will be affected. In terms of loss of jobs, there has been no evaluation on the reduction of inward investment due to loss of amenity in the village. In conclusion, it is quite clear that this development should not be authorised and further technical solutions considered instead