Representation by John Arnold Hallam
- Date submitted
- 5 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
This proposal is only one of four site that are being proposed in this area in total they will cover approximately 11,000acres of arable land. This development will change a rural landscape into an industrialised area. These four proposals should be considered as one project due to the enormity of the schemes and the divesting effect they will have on the rural communities. The local infrastructure will not be able to support a project of this scale. Within the proposals there are numerous battery storage facilities which are known to be unstable and catch fire at least one proposal in Yorkshire has been declined as the local fire brigade acknowledged they would be unable to cope with any incident and as such the public would be at risk from toxic fumes. The mental health of local residents in the surrounding small villages will be severely impacted by the proposed construction works taking over two years to complete and the completed project which will decimate the rural landscape for generations to come. No consideration appears to have been given to this in the submission no screening will be able to effectively hide these works do to the extent of them. The proposals include large scale energy storage in the form of battery storage which will be the largest ever developed in the world and is to great extent inadequately regulated. Where used on other sites the storage units have a high incidence of combustion which give of toxic fumes posing a risk to life and property this does not appear to have been adequately addressed in the submission. The proposed area is currently productive agricultural land used for food production and to take this out of production is folly as our local MP stated at a time when food security is paramount. There is no indication that brown field or poor quality land have been considered the only consideration given appears to be the ease of access to the national grid at the closest and cheapest option for the developer. Only large land owners in the form of trusts who are absentee landlords will benefit and they will not be impacted by the proposals as will there tenant farmers who will have there livelihoods taken away. The proposal fails to demonstrate how bio diversity of the areas will be maintained or improved. During the construction period the whole area will be decimated the existing wildlife will have no refuge and the whole eco system of the area will be destroyed. On completion the sites will be surrounded by security fencing which will prevent the free movement of animals. 50% of the area within the site will be in the shade of the solar panels and therefore of little use. The claim that the areas can be used for grazing animals is exaggerated as there will be little or no grazing areas. One developer has already put in an application to remove 35 miles of hedgerows which would destroy the the ecosystem and destroy what is currently a pleasant rural landscape with a patchwork of hedgerow, woods and fields. The visual impact will be devastating and the proposed screening will not be able to screen the works much of the proposed screening would take up to 20 years to develop. The local roads and villages will not be able to take the proposed traffic without the road and villages being severely damaged.