Representation by Adrian Francis Roger Forsell
- Date submitted
- 23 February 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am against Mallard Pass for the following reasons 1) The scale of the solar farm is in excess of 2000 acres and will surround the village of Essendine in which I live and I will be able to see part of the farm from my house. 2) The farm will use perfectly good arable farmland graded 3A and 3B and means that food production will be lost. 3) The farm if it did go ahead will take 2 years to construct meaning construction noise/increased traffic via HGV's and other construction traffic. 4) From the current plans it appears that the frontages of peoples properties along the main road through Essendine (A6121) will be compulsory acquired on a temporary basis to lay caballing. This was never mentioned in any consultation process. 5) The visual impact on the countryside will be huge taking away the amenity value that I presently enjoy- walking cycling. 6) Plans indicate a new substation will be constructed near the village of Essendine creating potential operational noise 7) No form of compensation has been offered to the residents of Essendine for the disruption that the farm will create 8) Solar is not operationally efficient- it does not work at night and in the winter and on cloudy days its output is reduced. Wind power is more efficient. 9) Originally the developers were going to use battery storage facilities. They now say this is not needed. How can we be sure that such facilities will not be introduced at a later date through the local planning process. 10) Because of the scale of the farm local wildlife will be affected. We have deer/badgers/ground nesting birds all of which presently inhabit the proposed solar farm area. 11) The developers [Redacted] are a Chinese owned company. China at present have a poor record of human rights and are considering supplying arms to Russia to fight the war in the Ukraine. Do we really want to be associated with such a company? 12) If built the farm will be surrounded by unsightly fencing and security cameras again detracting from the visual appearance of the current countryside and affecting wildlife and its movement. 13) Has one really looked how carbon neutral the development will be. 14) There are many others areas where solar power generation can happen - brownfield sites/putting solar panels on all new residential and commercial buildings. 15) Solar panels only have a life of 25 years so what will happen after that- all replaced? 16) If decommissioned who will be responsible for doing that and will that be written into some form of contract. 17) Presently some of the roads to be used in the construction phase are totally inadequate to take the traffic proposed especially the minor country roads