Representation by Jo Clegg
- Date submitted
- 14 March 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am writing to object to the proposed Sunnica development close to my village for the following reasons:- • As a resident of Isleham village for more than 20 years and bringing up my children in this beautiful rural area I do not wish to have the whole area ruined by unsightly solar panels. • I strongly support renewable energy but consider the Sunnica proposal totally misguided. • Sunnica propose to cover 2500 acres of good agricultural land – land which is even more important now with the war between Russia and Ukraine. We need to be growing our own crops and have grazing land for our animals. • Sunnica argue that the proposed panels will be set back in the fields and hedging planted to hide them. But the countryside will be defaced for at least the next 10/15 years whilst hedging grows. • A continuous stream of heavy vehicles manoeuvring our narrow roads will cause hold ups and damage to our already struggling road surfaces for many years to come. As local taxpayers we will be the ones to foot the cost of repair for these roads unless included in the proposal there are significant funds set aside by Sunnica to repair the road network during and on completion of the project. • Nearby are both Mildenhall and Lakenheath RAF/USAF air bases – has the impact of these panels been discussed with them – especially with all the reflection from the solar panels which could cause a huge impact on aircraft. • It has been pointed out that the battery energy storage system has not been built on such a scale up till now – no-one knows the outcome if such a system were to catch fire – suggestions are that explosions could occur and toxic gases released. • And all the issues relating to the end of life of the panels in 30/40 years time – what guarantees will the community have that the cost involved in dealing with this will be footed by the owners of the site and not left to the local community. • To my mind this proposal is simply a way to increase the profits of a large company with no regard to the effects it will inflict on the local community. • Consultation with the local community has been sadly lacking up till now, accepted we recently had a face to face meeting but to me this was much too little and much too late.