Representation by Raymond Stansfield
- Date submitted
- 26 May 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
West Burton solar project. I live in [] and strongly oppose the West Burton proposals. The plans presented by the developers disguise the ‘on the ground’ effects of the panels surrounding my chosen domicile of Broxholme. The euphemistically named “solar arrays” of WB 1 and WB 2 surround the hamlet on all sides except to the southeast. The flat landscape means that they will be clearly visible from my dwelling. Three of the four routes I would take to leave my home will be blighted by them either when walking or travelling by car. The proposed panels are taller than normal presumably to avoid damage from flooding which is regular on banks of the river Till. Any screening with hedges will take decades to develop. The enjoyment of landscape is beneficial for mental health. Landscape cannot be appreciated as a series of interrupted patches – its value is in its holistic effect. It needs to be continuous both as an agricultural asset and aesthetically. The encircling nature of the panels means that the noise, fencing, light pollution emanating and risk from flammable batteries, will be impossible to escape. This discontinuity will not only be evident at ground level. From Lincoln edge the black deserts of glass will disrupt landscape at a macro level. Broxholme is nourished as a living community by farming and associated industries, by tourism in the form of farm holiday accommodation, by visitors camping in the nature park. The surrounding of the hamlet by a desert of black glass will be detrimental to all of these. The developments (Cottam, Gate Burton, West Burton, Tillbridge) are presented as separate but there are in fact 4 contiguous ones covering 10,000 acres. Current proposals for UK solar farms are concentrated in Lincolnshire (35% of national). How is this levelling up? Lincolnshire is becoming the power station for distant consumers for the benefit of obscure organisations that the projects will be sold on to. On an even more sinister level the funds for these UK projects come from obscure and shadowy sources (see Private Eye 5th May 2023 issue number 1597) which reveals Russian oligarch connections via German and Cypriot shell companies. The funding for the local projects is equally as obscure. What is the benefit to Broxholme given that the electricity produced by solar is optimistically over exaggerated and consumed far from Lincolnshire? To be truly “green” power should be generated proximal to where it is consumed. This area has historically been a convenient place to extract power from with the large Trent power stations (now defunct) being placed here. We would now be further saddled with solar factory desecration for the next 4 decades to power distant elites. Every domestic roof, factory and warehouse should be utilised nationally first. I oppose the West Burton proposal. Ray Stansfield