Representation by Deborah Bircham
- Date submitted
- 28 February 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Further to the Mallard Pass Development and the second round of consultation, I would like to add my feedback to the amended proposals. I still have a number of concerns about this development. • Flooding. The area around Essendine Church, a site of considerable historical importance a Grade II listed building and Scheduled Monument, is already very prone to flooding, as are many of the other areas around this site, and I am concerned that this development would make the flooding of the church and flooding of the surrounding land worse. • Fires. We now also have very real concerns about the increased dangers of wildfires in this area. Given that we have seen several field fires around our villages in the recent hot weather, and we are given to understand that temperatures of this nature are likely to become a much more regular occurrence. From my research is seems that solar panels increase the ambient temperature even further, the so-called Heat Island Effect, we are very concerned about the possible risk of wildfires so close to our residential areas. • Effect on local wildlife and biodiversity. I am very concerned about the potential for this development to impact on our wildlife, and the loss of food and habitat for birds and animals from the loss of trees, hedgerows and crops. This development, with high fencing, will undoubtedly disrupt wildlife corridors and the movement of wildlife through the landscape, and many local animals will lose their homes. • Visual Impact. The unsightly visual impact on the area around our homes, which will impact enormously on us and our quality of life. We live here in a rural area because we enjoy living in and walking in the countryside and enjoying these views, and the nature of our surroundings will be considerably altered by this development. • Size. The sheer size and scale of the development is still far too large and will dwarf the small residential villages in this area and swamp us, we will be literally surrounded on all sides by this huge development, which is way out of proportion to the surrounding villages, and will dominate the landscape for miles. • Loss of prime BMV agricultural land, at a time when we urgently need to produce more crops and become less dependent on imported foods as a nation, which is a considerable concern of mine already. Given the situation with Ukraine and Brexit which is already impacting food imports, we need to be producing more crops and using agricultural land for agriculture. We try to buy British, to reduce the carbon footprint of our foods and seek to support British farming, and we would not like to see a loss of arable land locally on this scale. • Archaeological Concerns. There is abundant prehistoric archaeological remains in this area and the impact of this development on these remains is of concern to me, as is the effect on the 12th Century church of St Mary Magdelene at Essendine, not only through flooding, but purely aesthetically, changing the fundamental landscape around this beautiful and historic building forever. • Recreational Amenity. Local residents use this area currently for recreation, and there are many footpaths and areas where residents walk for pleasure and health. The access to this landscape will be severely restricted by this development, thus depriving local people of the amenity of access to local countryside, which as we all know is essential for health and physical and mental wellbeing. • Traffic and Construction Disruption. Disruption to the local residents from construction, noise, dust and traffic will be considerable and greatly impact on our daily quality of life for years while this development is built, and then operated. We feel very worried about the impact on us in terms of noise, dust and traffic, and also exposure to chemicals from tarmacking, building work etc. [Redacted] and I am concerned about the impact of this large-scale building and construction work taking place around my home on the quality of the air. • Humanitarian concerns. I was very shocked to read about the connections of [Redacted]to possible forced labour usage, and do not believe that this company should be allowed to continue with this development until all the outstanding investigations into this have been concluded and it is clear that no forced labour would be used in this development. • We are very much in favour of more sustainable energy, and in the UK becoming more self-sufficient in our energy production, but we believe that there are better ways in which local communities can be helped to become more energy-sustainable, rather than big corporations making profits out of developments such as this which destroy and disrupt the natural landscape and the local community. We would prefer to see schemes to install solar panels on local rooves and brownfield sites, for example, and ways to make each property more self-sufficient in energy, rather than a large development like this which seems to be primarily for the profit of the developer, rather than for the benefit of the local community.