Representation by Dominic Bowers
- Date submitted
- 16 March 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Let me state at the outset that I’m heavily in favour of developing renewable energy sources to tackle climate change and reduce our dependency on imported energy. However, the burden of such development shouldn’t fall disproportionately on a community . It’s an accident of geography that the fenlands of East Cambridgeshire are attractive to solar farm developers as they’re both flat and sunny but the community that lives here shouldn’t be punished by imposing this disproportionately large and intrusive development on it. I object to the Sunnica development on the following grounds: Its too big – It will dominate the surrounding landscape. I’ve observed how this happens with the construction of the solar farm on Factory Road, Burwell. Its too much – Burwell already has more than its fair share of electricity production and supply infrastructure; this includes supergrid pylons and cables, a National Grid main substation, a battery energy storage facility and an existing solar farm (referred to above) with another just granted planning permission (EDDC application 20/00557/ESF). I would urge the inspectorate to consider the proposed development in the context of the existing and planned electricity supply infrastructure in the locale. The drawings produced by Sunninca do not show existing and proposed developments which presents a misleading image of the local impact. Loss of agricultural land –. I’m concerned about taking agricultural land out of production. Can we really afford to do this at a time when food scarcity, already exacerbated by climate change, is becoming a crucial issue for the country. An alternative to the development of a mega solar farm would be to use planning policy to require all new-build properties to have solar PV panels on their roofs. Many thousands of new homes are planned to be built in Cambridgeshire , including hundreds in Burwell, requiring them to have solar panels would increase renewable power generation without the need to take additional land out of food production. Loss of wildlife habitats – The land will be effectively sterilised by being covered either by PV panels, roadways or concrete. This will have a significant impact on wildlife further reducing the amenity of the area to the community. It is my experience of walking in the vicinity of a solar farm that no skylarks sing over it, no red kites soar above it and no barn owls hunt quarter it looking for voles.