Representation by Caroline Smith
- Date submitted
- 15 March 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am very concerned about the climate emergency and the need for energy security. We have recently installed solar panels and a heat pump. But the last 2 years have also highlighted the need for food security and the need for open country, both for biodiversity and for residents' health and mental health. I live in Burwell and don't have family or friends in the proposed area, so I'm not being a NIMBY, as I would anticipate little personal disruption if the proposal were to go ahead. But the proposal is disproportionately large. This scale would be acceptable in a barren desert but not, as is planned, fairly much filling in the gaps between the villages concerned. The proposal would convert the existing rural area into an industrial landscape, and the proposed mitigations are not enough to counter the loss of open farmland. Locally, there is increasing pressure on farmland for housing and other associated development. The proposal would take a vast amount of current, productive farmland out of production. And at the end of the solar "farm's" life there is no guarantee that it would be restored to food production; it could well be used for a further generation of solar, or considered as brownfield and hence used for alternative development As we are currently less than 65% self- sufficient in food, we should be looking to increase this, rather than losing further farmland, potentially forever. The UK is struggling to meet its biodiversity commitments. The southern proposed area is uncomfortably close to the nationally important Chippenham Fen nature reserve. The noise from the construction is bound to be damaging, particularly from the pile-driving The surrounding farmland currently provides additional habitat for certain species, which the Sunnica developers propose to surround by 30 miles of security fencing and cover over 100 acres in concrete. Hardly 'green'! Solar is a vital part of the mix as we transition away from damaging fossil fuels. But this should be installed on roofs: houses, distribution warehouses, carparks. Installation on all new and the majority of existing buildings would have a much lower environmental impact: a much lower carbon footprint, no blighting of neighbouring villages, no loss of wildlife habitat, no loss of amenity value for physical and mental health and no reduction in food security.