Representation by Sharon Laryea
- Date submitted
- 17 February 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
While I support renewable energy, the sheer size of this development proposal is grotesque in its scale and in my opinion the adverse impact on the local area seriously outweighs any upside. We made a conscious decision to live in Braceborough for many reasons, all of which relate to our quality of life. We both work busy, stressful jobs and our time spent at home and enjoying recreational activities local to home is precious and of utmost importance to our wellbeing. The proposed solar farm threatens the very fabric of our quality of life as local residents, directly affecting our enjoyment of daily life; obscuring the beautiful landscape, removing the home of varied wildlife, creating extra traffic and noise. My partner and I are keen cyclists and love that we live outside of town and are fortunate enough to have lovely lanes right at the end of our driveway. Currently we are able to immerse ourselves completely in the surrounding characterful countryside. The two-year construction phase and the resulting MPSF will take all that away and is of grave concern to us. Our local lanes simply are not built for the HGVs which will be required for the development. They pose a direct risk to our safety as road cyclists. Furthermore, these haulage vehicles create potholes and unsafe road surfaces which makes road cycling treacherous. Of course, this is all in addition to the new quarry site at Greatford being recently approved and a proposed housing development at Quarry Farm, Stamford. Our homes will be blighted by these developments, designed to bury us in noise, dust and traffic. My question is: is this the best use of the land? Why take good land out of production, undermining food security at a time when there is disruption to food supplies given the current war in Ukraine? As a country we should be increasing efforts to grow more in order to be resilient enough to withstand global shocks. This huge loss of agricultural land will reduce yield at a time when it is needed most and we should not be looking to repurpose it. Why can industrial and commercial units and car parks not be modernised with a network of rooftop renewable energy instead? Leaving the deer, brown hares and butterflies to thrive on farmed land. I urge the powers that be to reject this harmful solar farm proposal in its entirety. NO to Mallard Pass!