Representation by Helen Faulkner
- Date submitted
- 7 February 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
In 2018 we moved to our house in Red Lodge which is now affected by the Sunnica ltd development. We are therefore personally affected as a family which includes our 2 children. One of the reasons for moving to this location was the close proximity to the countryside as we are keen ramblers and use the many footpaths in the Brecklands area affected by the Sunnica development. We understand many of these will be closed. We have a great interest in wildlife especially birds and many protected species have nesting grounds in the Brecklands Historic Landscape. We are also keen photographers and enjoy photographing rare birds and animals on our walks. Therefore we wish to object to the Sunnica proposal and inform the Planning Inspectorate by, Written Representation, due to the large area for development of some 2,800 acres of farmland used for food production and the fact it is intended to position Battery Energy Storage cabins at 3 separate sites with a total of 75 acres. One of these sites will be situated in Elms road between Red Lodge and Freckenham and is within half a mile of our property. We are told it will stack some 120 cabins. Our house is also 100 yards from the 2 local primary schools for Red Lodge and each school has 500 pupils. The population of Red Lodge is 6, 000 and it is a new development of young families. We are all terrified of the risks of fire, explosion and toxic fumes in the case of a major incident at the local planned battery site. We have read reports of many of these fires globally especially in South Korea and the United States and we are told of one in this country at Liverpool some 15 months ago. In one fire in America residents within a 10 mile radius were evacuated from their homes. We wonder what ever would happen to us if we had to leave our homes and if local Emergency Services could cope. Therefore we wish to submit a more detailed report to the examiners of concerns we have for the Sunnica proposal as follows. • All the agricultural land within the Sunnica development of 2,800 acres produces crops to produce food for this country. We feel any such industrialised development for the production of green energy should be positioned away from residential properties and on land designated as brownfield sites. • We have seen no evidence of alternative sites that Sunnica may have considered. • There is evidence from newspaper reports and from academics of the dangers of BESS and that they are unsafe. There are recommendations by academics that they should be 10 miles from residential properties. • We question can the local emergency services have the resources to cope with a major incident and how are they trained. • If we had to evacuate our homes in Red Lodge where would 6,000 families be rehoused. • Decommissioning at 40 years will be in our lifetime and that of our children. What are the plans to return the solar farm to agricultural land or are we to expect a desert wilderness of redundant glass panels and industrial units. What would be the cost and who would be responsible for decommissioning.