Representation by Catherine Gurnham
- Date submitted
- 18 February 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am deeply concerned about the environmental impact of this scheme. It would occupy thousands of acres of productive agricultural land, creating a habitat desert at a time when we should be preserving our habitat for native birds, insects, amphibians, small mammals and native species. The concrete itself is a huge area, never mind the scale of the solar. It is also adjacent to watercourses, homes, schools and will have a hugely detrimental impact to the natural environment in our area. The Burwell fen is an open landscape which has been used and enjoyed by the villagers for centuries. The battery storage and cabling infrastructure is of huge concern; its proximity to our home and village with the known risk of fire and noxious pollution is deeply alarming. What provision could there be for mitigation, given it is known that fires in BESS cannot be extinguished? The substation, in our village, at 12m high would dominate what is otherwise a low level, flat, agricultural fenland landscape of wonderful beauty. The nature of the area is such that, if there were to be a fire, the toxic smoke would spread far and wide very quickly, impacting homes and families. How could this possibly be considered a safe, suitable location for such a facility? Where there is already a small battery storage area, residents report constant noise and buzzing, persistent noise is known to be highly impactful to stress and health. The environmental credentials of this scheme are highly questionable, given the huge carbon footprint from importing the vast quantities of solar panels. This, coupled with the loss of agricultural land, must call this "environmentally beneficial" premise a nonsense. It detracts from, not contributes to, net Carbon Zero, and cannot be considered to be anything but contrary to achieving Net Zero. These are small villages, with minor infrastructure provisions. The impact of thousands of traffic movements, large machinery, degraded local landscapes, substantially increased fire risks and pollution, plus substantially decreased productive agricultural land all without the "benefit" of substantive local employment bringing wealth and prosperity to the area is a failure to appreciate the scale of the negative impact. There appears to be no understanding of the local area and the impact of such a scheme on it. This is a largely agricultural area, with small villages on the edge of the Fens where local people live, work, rest and take leisure in healthy, outdoor landscapes, also supporting native wildlife. Taking this land and surrounding these villages and homes with a solar desert would be devastating.