Representation by The Banks Family (The Banks Family )
- Date submitted
- 1 March 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Whilst I am well aware that we have to find an alternative to fossil fuels, I do not feel I can support the Mallard Pass scheme. There are a number of reasons why I do not feel that planning should be granted for the scheme and will list them below as bullet points: The scale – the scale of the project is disproportionate for the area. Far too much local farmland will be sacrificed in one area, making an extensive visual and productive impact on the immediate area. Whilst I’m aware that farmers are being reimbursed substantially for the use of the land, I am also aware that most individuals did not realise the scale of the project for which they signed up to. The actual power produced and supplied by this extensive project will not be sufficient to make a justifiably large impact. Mallard pass solar are claiming that they will provide enough power to fuel 92000 ‘average’ homes a year. This is an unrealistic figure; on average solar farms produce about 11% of their stated capacity over a year and therefore with this take into consideration, Mallard pass might just about be able to power Stamford and possibly some of its neighbouring villages. The impact on those living in the very local vicinity to the Solar farm will be immense. Houses that were bought for their views and rural locations will be massively devalued and quality of life for those living in them will without doubt be severely affected. The solar farm will require extensive construction work – presumably not using electric vehicles or machinery, but those burning more fossil fuels, and will result in a huge increase in traffic in small villages, where the current road infrastructure will not be suitable. The construction of the solar panels themselves is something that may well need more review – The carbon footprint made in the creation of the panels, delivering them to site, putting them in to place and fixing them into the ground, is likely to outweigh the energy saving they will make in their lifetime. Life span of solar panels - production of the concrete, pouring of the concrete used to secure the panels and also the final removal of the concrete after the life span of the panel is reached has a severe environmental impact. Food – As we have been faced recently with the huge impact of the war in the Ukraine and import restrictions during Covid, it seems that the need to become more self sufficient as a nation in our food production is becoming greater and greater. Imports of food are a major factor in reducing the UKs carbon footprint, so surely the more food we can grow in this country the better. Removing farmland would seem like a rather back to front way of addressing this. There are so many other places to put solar panels – All new warehouse developments should have mandatory solar panels on their roofs and companies like Canadian Solar and Windel Energy could bid for their roof spaces. All existing warehouses could and arguably should be the more favourable location for this sort of energy. There are many more points to be made, but these are of the highest priority in my opinion.