Representation by Lyminster and Crossbush Parish Council (Lyminster and Crossbush Parish Council)
- Date submitted
- 6 November 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
We understand that members of our community have previously responded to your consultation exercise yet their views appear to have been disregarded in some of the latest proposals. Namely routes traversing higher quality farming land including the area of the organic egg farm at The Brewhouse and a possible diagonal section of route through prime agricultural land from Lyminster towards Poling are highly undesirable. It has been pointed out that low productivity agricultural land to the south of Black Ditch would be a more preferable route traversing north alongside the Southern water high pressure main/ gas main and sewage pipe or even along the Angmering/ Poling border. We remain of the opinion that all of the routes coming directly through our parish are generally to a greater or lesser degree detrimental to our community. Other options are available including investigating the possibility of laying a cable up the course of the River Arun. We have heard no technical argument as to why this could not be pursued and would appreciate your response specifically on this matter. We would also appreciate a full technical explanation as to why Rampion 2 could not be connected to Rampion 1 and partially utilise the existing infrastructure to reach the National Grid. Even if the entire length of that infrastructure connection to the National Grid required upgrading it would significantly minimise the additional environmental damage (biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, long-term ecosystem damage, etc) caused by an entirely new connection following an entirely new path as you now propose. The undeniable benefit of sustainable energy schemes should not licence the project to deliver irreversible environmental and disruption to the communities affected. The disruption and medium-term inconvenience likely to be caused to our community warrants a compensatory consideration from the proposed scheme. Just like communities affected by on-shore wind turbine schemes we believe there should be a mechanism for residents in our community to benefit from a discounted energy tariff as a result of this scheme should it go ahead.