Representation by Shaun kimberley
- Date submitted
- 18 March 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
My name is Shaun Kimberley and my wife and I own a 7 acre field on the Notts/Lincs border that is about to be destroyed by this project. Several companies wish to lay power cables through it for the West Burton & Cottam Solar Projects. We have worked extremely hard over the last 10 years to finally get our dream property and land, to be able to be self sufficient, to have our horses at home (so we aren’t paying livery costs) and to make it easier on Emma’s worsening health (back injury). We moved into our property at the end of January last year and completed on this land separately on 19 Apr 22. The property and land were being sold together, however we were forced into splitting it for the mortgage company, ultimately buying the land with cash £60k (almost all of our savings). This field is used for grazing and hay. For grazing it is used for up to 7 broodmares (who are pregnant at this time) and any number of youngsters (from 6 months to 3 years old). For the hay we will regularly get 2 cuts a year from it producing over 100 large round bales of hay to feed our horses. We feel as though these companies have us over a barrel and we have absolutely no say about what happens to our land, and comments like “you’ll still have your land” keep cropping up. However, this is not the point - it is our land, it is our only bit of land! We’ve worked hard in the military to have everything as close to perfect as we can and it is just ludicrous that someone can come along and just take it from us. It is where our horses are housed, we want to build a barn on it, we wanted to develop the land to create a business (permissions pending), ALL of this now has to be put on hold whilst we wait for our land to be destroyed by trenches, bore holes, diggers and everyman and his dog coming onto our field. We have now also been advised to find livery for 9 horses (we increased our number of horses when we got our own land), but we own a total of 11 (2 are with a friend on a temporary basis). Depending on the longevity of this issue we will have 7 pregnant mares due between March and July next year (2023), if we don’t have our land this will require a specialist livery such as at Brackenspa Stud, including associated transporting costs. It is probably safe to say that we will not find livery for 11 horses in one place. Will they pay for full livery - as driving to 2 or 3 places every morning to care for them is not physically possible? We are seriously concerned for the welfare of our horses if we’re forced to move them and in turn Emma’s own health as she tries to maintain them away from our own land. We are angry, frustrated, upset and now feeling like we are at a complete loss. Emma and I do normally support renewable energy projects, but this one seems to be in a rush to get finished and force things through, regardless of the impact to the local area and the individuals involved. We wish to formally object to this project. The Cottam power station is in the process of decommissioning and if they waited until that was complete they would be able to use that brownfield site (rather than grade A farmland). They would also have direct connections to the national Grid, rather than tearing up the landscape to lay miles of power cables.