Representation by David Alliston
- Date submitted
- 1 March 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The proposed development will stop at least 5,000 tonnes of agricultural commodities each year being grown in the UK each year which currently is made into millions of loaves of bread. This is an utterly shameful and arrogant misuse of the land we rely on for our food. It will drive imports which reduces the UK's food security, increases the carbon footprint of our food, increases food price inflation and comes at a time when agricultural land across the world is shrinking while it is expected to feed a global population that, according to the UN, passed 8 billion in November 2022. In the lifetime of this proposal the global population is forecasted to increase by a further 2 billion so can you honestly and coherently explain why it make any sense at all to sacrifice productive Grade 3 land for inefficient solar for the next 40 years? Solar panels belong on the roofs of the commercial and domestic buildings that will consume the electricity they generate thus reducing the impact on the grid to transmit electricity. Wind turbines are much more productive and allow the existing farming activity to continue uninterrupted. Surely a win-win. The local area simply does not have the infrastructure for the workers and trucks required to build the solar farm. The natural beauty of this area will be permanently ruined with panels, CCTV, batteries, inverters and miles and miles of fencing. There will be an irreversible impact on local wildlife and watercourses that no amount of compensatory planting will ever replace. The developer is the only winner here but the trail of insolvencies behind the lamentable director leads me to believe the sole interest is in making a 'quick buck'. Fundamentally, there are many ways and means to produce electricity and new technologies are improving efficiency and output BUT there's only one way to grow our food at scale at it is in fields!