Representation by Michelle Fare
- Date submitted
- 10 July 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I have many issues regarding the proposed development of the Morgan offshore windfarm development: Complete disregard for the impact on our livelihoods My family and I have been very angry, distressed and disappointed with the way that the proposals have been handled so far. We own and farm a 70 acre livestock farm in Freckleton that will be directly affected by the development, as it has been earmarked as the preferred location for the Morgan onshore substation. Whilst we have been aware of the potential development since Dalcour Maclaren contacted us in 2022 regarding non-intrusive ecological surveys on our land, at no point has the building of a substation ever been mentioned to us. The first we knew about this was in September 2023 when a neighbour contacted us following a local council meeting to ask if we knew about the proposed substation being built on our land – on the field directly opposite our house. To say that we were distressed and upset by this news was an understatement, made worse by the fact that no-one from Dalcour Maclaren had to courtesy and decency to contact us before this news was made public. Since then the proposed site has been moved to a different location, but we will still be hugely affected as it will require approximately 18 acres of our land (almost 20% of the area we farm) to be used for a temporary site during the building and development stages. Since then our lives have been turned upside down as we have had to live with the uncertainty and lack of clarity over what the development will look like, how it will affect our lives and our business, and the endless cycle of phone conversations, meetings and time that has been taken up by this. It is very difficult to do all this whilst trying to run a business and raise a family. Our family have lived here for over 30 years, and in that time we have worked hard to make the farm the successful business that it is today. Now we have no idea whether or not our family business will still be viable in the future as we cannot get any answers regarding the scale of the development and exactly where it will be located. A farming business is very much a long-term investment as decisions cannot be made overnight, and plans have to be put in place now to minimise the impact of developments that may happen in two or three years time. Flawed consultation The fact that we only received detailed maps and information on the proposed sites, despite them being on our land, less than a week prior to the consultation opening feels extremely deceitful. We had our first meeting with representatives from Dalcour Maclaren, bP and Flotation Energy on the 26th of October (two weeks after the consultation opened), and even at this meeting there were more questions raised than answers given. How we can be expected to respond meaningfully to a consultation on a project which will have such a huge impact on our lives without providing us with all the relevant information such as access routes, cable routes, timescales, or any compensation strikes me as being very underhand and I would question the legality of this. Destruction of numerous farm businesses Our farming business is very closely linked to our neighbour, Mr Fare at Lower House Farm, as we rear all his replacement heifers for his dairy herd. If the proposals go ahead as planned it will mean that our neighbour’s farm will no longer be viable, and as a result our business will also be devastated. To try and run your business each day with that level of uncertainty hanging over you, in addition to all the other variables affecting farming that we have no control over, is very difficult and stressful. Most of the farms which will be affected by the proposed development are livestock farms, with many of the stock being moved twice daily for milking. The level of disruption that will be caused by having to negotiate fences, construction work and new access points to fields will be huge as cattle do not like change and are very easily upset by a change in routine, thus affecting their productivity. In addition to this, the loss of land that is currently used for growing crops for the livestock to eat cannot be replaced as there will be no spare land available locally, and so inevitably farmers will have to reduce their stock numbers which could render their business unviable. Access to the site and dangerous traffic operations I am particularly concerned about the access which will be required to the sites, as these routes are not detailed in the plans as yet, and so I expect that additional land will need to be taken from us for the construction of access roads. Our farm is down a single-track road, which is also a busy public footpath and bridleway. It is absolutely unacceptable that this lane can even be considered for access to the sites as it simply is not suitable for large construction vehicles and increased traffic. There are young children living here and the thought that we could have an increased volume of traffic coming through our yard is very worrying from a safety perspective. The yard is also a working farmyard and any additional traffic will affect farming operations and disrupt the running of our business. Lower Lane is a small country road which is already in a very poor state of repair and regularly floods. If this is used to access the sites this will cause further damage and increased traffic which is dangerous and inconvenient. Negative effects on human and animal health The proposed substation site is located very close to our house and we have real concerns over the effects that this could potentially have both on our health and also the health of our livestock. I know that there are guidelines in place as to how far electricity substations need to be located away from schools and houses, but are there any studies which detail any negative effects there could be to grazing livestock which will be living on the adjacent land? Why is it deemed OK to subject livestock to any potential harm? Can we be categorically assured that there will be no negative effects on our health? The visual and auditory impact of the substation during construction, and also on completion, is a huge concern for us too. As well as being our livelihood and business, our farm is also our home and the place that we have chosen to bring up our daughter. We chose to come back to the farm after our daughter was born so that she could enjoy a safe upbringing in the country with space to play and have freedom. Having a substation so close to our home and losing some of our land was certainly not in the plan, and neither was the undue ongoing stress and upset that this has caused our family. I doubt whether anyone from bP or Flotation Energy would choose to live so close to a working substation, and yet you expect us to without any choice whatsoever in the matter. In addition to this the substation sites are very close to two schools and the potential effects on the health of the children in these schools must surely be considered. Impact on food security Whilst I appreciate that we need to use renewable sources of energy in order to secure our needs for the future, and I am certainly not against the windfarm development in principle, we also need to ensure that the country can continue to produce food to feed the growing population. If this project is to go ahead as planned with the huge destruction of vast areas of the Fylde for burying the transmission cables, I am certain that many farming businesses will cease to exist afterwards. The level of invasive work that will be required will ruin a great deal of the high quality farmland in the Fylde. Field drains will be destroyed by the work, and I doubt very much whether the new drains will ever be as effective as the current system as it has taken years and years of careful management and planning. Soil structure will be massively affected by compaction and it will be impossible to return the land to how it was before no matter how carefully the soil is stored and put back. Surely at a time when food security is so high on the public agenda, the loss of valuable farmland is not a sustainable option. The effects of building on large areas of farmland will also lead to massively increased risk of flooding in the local area. The land is already under huge pressure of flooding as main drains and ditches are no longer maintained meaning that water flow is restricted. The additional run-off from the concrete sites will mean that the current system will be unable to cope and will lead to more regular flooding, not only on the land that we are farming, but also in the towns and villages as the water will have nowhere to go. Impact on wildlife We have had numerous ecological surveys carried out across our land and, whilst we have not had any feedback on the findings of these yet (despite this being promised at the time when the surveys were being carried out), we know for a fact that the land supports a huge number of bird species and varied wildlife. We regularly see barn owls, bats, swans, geese, brown hares and huge numbers of wild birds, and the destruction of all their habitats will be devastating. We will lose many of our ponds, ditches and hedges, all of which are a haven for wildlife. Whilst I appreciate that remedial work will take place after the building work is completed, I fear that it will be too late and many of these species will never return. When we suggested the viability of using the River Ribble estuary or the adjacent marshland as the cable route we were told that it cannot even be considered due to its status as a SSSI. Are the animals and birds that live at our farm less important than the birds living near the river?