Representation by Emma Kimberley
- Date submitted
- 30 March 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I do not support any of the 4 projects, in particular - its routing. All 4 projects should be looked at as 1. The scale is astronomical. On a personal level as a small land owner, it destroys anything we have ever worked for. Although the companies vying for this project have appeared to “consult” land owners, this is not the case, documentation has been deliberately misleading and confusing. We have voiced our opinions numerous times - but we have had no further response (notably after we shared our real time costs for moving our animals). It is not clear when this project with actually make its money back for the people of the UK, and when it will truly be “green” with the increased amount of traffic, use of silica sand for the panel build, increased health and safety risk, increased risk to animals and their habitats (I have a leucistic barn owl that frequently visits my land), loss of productive land and general disruption to a phenomenal number of people. I am not anti solar, but this project is unacceptable and is not green in any aspect, the numbers being produced are not viable. We have pregnant mares on our field and they want to put a cable through it. This is also our main source of feed for our horses (the grass and the hay/haylage we get from it). To lose it would be catastrophic. Our village has a lot of horses and thereby a lot of bridleways and footpaths being threatened by the work (which isn’t clear when it is estimated to start and how long it will take). The increased number of HGV’s is really concerning (we already have a HGV hub in the next village, I cannot imagine having more - increased noise etc, I have young horses that I need to cross the road with, I am worried for my safety and my animals welfare. I am concerned for my pregnant mares and the disruption and distress this will cause them. They will have to widen the road. People already drive far too fast in the 30mph and national speed areas around Cottam, widening the road will only encourage this. Will it take the death of a child to stop it? I am also worried about the safety and security of my animals if an additional access gate to my field is put in. My husband joined their last web seminar and was disappointed of how they struggled to answer basic questions about their own project. Their claims for the project’s contribution to the electricity supply also appear to be greatly inflated when compared to typical Solar project outputs. They were not even able to tell us at which point the project was at. Overall, this is not a healthy green choice and should be immediately stopped. It does not meet the standards of the precautionary principle of risk and therefore until acceptable mitigations can be found the plans should be halted.