Back to list Cottam Solar Project

Representation by Elaine Stiles

Date submitted
19 February 2023
Submitted by
Members of the public/businesses
  1. The Cottam proposal is just one of four Nationally significant Solar Projects which will extend to 10,000 acres in this immediate area so should not be looked at independently as the accumulative effect will be devastating on local communities. 2) The land proposed for Solar Panels will take away the ability to produce much needed food in these uncertain global times. We need to be as self sufficient as we can in order to protect ourselves from being too reliant on external food sources. This land produced more crops per acre this year because of the clay soil, especially valuable in drought years. 3) We moved into this area to be able to live in the country, to walk through fields and benefit from seeing wildlife such as deer running across the fields and it would severely impact on our mental health if we have acres of solar panels, huge batteries and fences to circumnavigate when out walking. It is also designated as an Area of Great Landscape Value (AGLV) and currently is teaming with fauna and flora, all of which will be destroyed if the Solar Farms were erected. 4) There are brown field sites in this area which could be utilised for Solar Panels, rather than strip our fertile fields. Currently RAF Kirton Lindsey is redundant as too will be RAF Scampton shortly. This would be far better and leave valuable land to continue their true purpose:- to feed the nation and allow the flora and fauna to flourish. 5)The construction of Solar Panels on this scale will result in soil compaction, alteration of drainage channels and increased erosion, therefore detrimental to the environment. 6) Solar Panels are only effective when there is sufficient sunlight to generate electricity and therefore it provides unreliable and intermittent power. Is this development really worth destroying thousands of acres of productive land?