Representation by Carly Michelle Yeganeh
- Date submitted
- 4 February 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I really worry about the safety concerns of this. My children bike and walk around these villages. It was what drew us to this area and many of their school friends. With heavy machinery, trucks etc using the roads if Mallard Pass goes ahead it really is a danger to them. Whilst Mallard Pass is planning on offering some 5 miles of permissive routes , this in no way compensates for the negative experience of walking alongside and being surrounded by what is effectively an industrial plant. Note public rights of way are likely be moved or closed during the 2 year construction phase, which could have a significant impact on all users. The application proposed for Mallard Pass is also FAR too big in scale, this is the wrong location! It will damage the natural beauty of our area and will detrimentally affect the health and wellbeing of the residents. Mallard Pass is encouraging the growth of renewable energy on valuable productive farmland! So contradictory! Government policy through the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and draft National Policy for Energy EN3 is clear that ground mounted solar should use previously developed land, contaminated land, industrial land and agricultural land of grade 3b, 4 and 5, not Best and Most Versatile (BMV) land of grade 1,2 and 3a. Following final survey work by Mallard Pass the solar area is 40.7% BMV land, results that needs further validation as the previous survey work concluded 53%. We believe that no large scale solar plant should be approved for development on greenfield land until the collective impact on the environment, biodiversity and food security is fully understood.