Representation by David van den Bos
- Date submitted
- 30 March 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
This county has two conflicting requirements – food and energy. Both of these factors have an effect on the county’s balance of payments as we need to import to make up the shortfall. As far as solar is concerned, this area is in a relatively northerly latitude, reducing daylight hours in winter and seeming to have many grey days in the winter months, neither conducive for producing electricity when the need for power is at its greatest. This large area is almost all productive agricultural land. Located in the east of England, it has good soils, good drainage, a low risk of flooding and is suitable for a range of arable crops and livestock. Surely as a nation we need to produce as much of our own food as we can, for which this area is ideally suited, rather than take it out of production permanently, for little benefit, especially during winter months, when alternative sources of energy will still be required. Given the effect of continuing climate change it seems that more of the world is going to suffer from excessive heat and drought reducing the worldwide potential for producing food. Already regularly imported foods are no longer reliably available. Thus it seems even more important that in Britain, with temperatures ameliorated by the surrounding seas, we retain our remaining agricultural land as it will become even more important for food production in the global context than it is now.