Representation by Anna Broadburn
- Date submitted
- 19 March 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I live in an area (Lincolnshire) that will end up being surrounded by solar panels. Its a rural location and the land the panels will be sited on are used for cereal and crop production. The Gate Burton Project is part of several in the Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire area that will be connecting to the Cottam Power Station. These solar projects (Gate Burton, Cottam, Tillbridge) all need to be discussed and reviewed together to really understand the impact that these projects are going to have on the surrounding farming landscape. We will be losing 10000 acres of farmland which could be used to produce food and fuel for our country. With the increase in prices of food in this country, surely we should be focusing on growing more of our own produce than importing from mainland Europe and Worldwide. A loss of agricultural land will also potentially see a decline in agricultural jobs. Jobs may be created during the initial build but I believe these will be contractors from out of the area rather than local workers. What will these job losses do for the area? What will the impact be on their life and mental health knowing that their jobs are at risk because of these proposals? I am concerned of the impact that these vast solar farms will have on not only the surrounding landscape but also the animals who live in these areas. On a daily basis we see deer running across the fields, which once hedges and fences are erected surrounding these panels they will not have free access to travel. We have a vast array of owls and other birds of prey whose lives will be impacted on by a sea of silicone rather than fields containing their food source. Also, the visible impact these panels will have on these vast locations will be massive. These panels are over 9m tall. Who wants to be out in the countryside looking at a sea of grey/blue silicone structures rather than fields of corn/wheat/oil-seed rape? I urge these companies to live in a rural location and find out more about how this will affect the local people, both by the physical presence of these structures but also find out how it will affect them mentally. I'm also interested to know what the carbon footprint is of these massive solar projects? After the panels have been made in China and shipped on containers across the ocean, how long do the panels need to actually be up and running for them to be classed as carbon-neutral? What happens to these massive amounts of solar panels after they have run their life-span? How are those environmentally removed and disposed of? What will the impact be on the local area and atmosphere to do this? I believe there is a need for solar projects, but brownfield sites, car-parks, warehouses, domestic houses and even farm buildings would be better placed to house these vast projects. Lets not waste our valuable resources of obtaining food when solar panels can be placed in areas which aren't going to have such a visible and environmental impact like the vast-amounts of farmland proposed.