Representation by Geraldine McCauley
- Date submitted
- 20 April 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I wish to protest about the planned Solar Farm at Oaklands Farm between Rosliston and Walton . The landscape will be totally swallowed up by these proposals and fine agricultural land will be destroyed not to mention the impact on wildlife habitats and the environment in general. The local roads have been impassable at time this winter due to flooding and also the potholes. These roads without construction traffic for the solar Farm are congested and dangerous to drive woth the increased traffic generated by the Drakelow developments. Adding two years of construction traffic for the Farm will bring noise, further wear and tear and damage. The roads are in disrepair and the additional number of HGV vehicles will only serve to exacerbate the damage. Added to which the hard standing etc will only serve to increase the flood risk. I live in Coton in the Elms which is struggling to cope with traffic.HGV drivers already ignore the signage which highlights that the roads are not suitable for large vehicles and the proposals to route traffic through the village is not viable as the roads are not built for such traffic. Already cars are damaged as vehicles pass through. This is a rural village developed over centuries without the infrastructure to bear heavy construction traffic and this proposal takes no consideration of this. The police currently patrol to prevent HGV traffic as the village streets are too narrow for such traffic. Traffic chaos will ensue with the requirements for changes to the roads at Rosliston, Walton and Coton. The access to Burton on Trent via alternative means is already congested and this proposal will only create gridlock around the outlying villages. We do not have suitable roads currently and the County council appear to be dilatory in their duties to repair these; the Solar Farm is destructive and will only add further layers of disrepair to a rural infrastructure. Fields should be for farming and food production to support a growing population. Solar panels should be encouraged for individual property owners and not for huge projects which ruin the rural landscape. I appeal to you to consider all these points and withdraw these proposals which represent a blight to the local environment of South Derbyshire.