Representation by Gillian Stonham
- Date submitted
- 16 February 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The Cottam Solar proposal is one of 4 proposed solar farms that when taken together will cover over 10,000 acres of Lincolnshire land, concentrated within West Lindsey District Council.....this vast area will result in the loss of agricultural land when we need to be working towards food sufficiency. The height of the panels will be 4.5 meters meaning the area will look like an industrial sea of black glass which is ineffective in providing power only working on sunny days and not at all during the evenings and night when power requirements are at there greatest. The proposed sites are miles away from Grid connections and the construction plans of all four sites will be in excess of 4 years with huge numbers of very large construction vehicles some with over 16 axles trying to gain access to the sites along small sometimes single track lanes, often close to small villages causing distress and concern for the well being and mental health of residents. I understand our need as a country to be self sufficient in energy, but I think there are better ways of going about this. I have solar panels on my roof and believe roof space along with brown field sites offers a better way forward than taking out of production thousands of acres of good agricultural land. Furthermore, it seems wrong and unethical to outsource the production of much of the infrastructure to countries like China when we know that working conditions and human rights fall significantly below what we might consider as acceptable. Thank you for the opportunity of sharing my views.