Representation by Kevin Heyhurst
- Date submitted
- 24 March 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
In 1984 Prince Charles, now King Charles III, described a proposed building in London as a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend". I consider this statement, and particularly the use of the word carbuncle, every time I think about the impact of this project on my own village of Bishopton and the surrounding area. Not a building in this case but a small quaint village, surrounded by fields, mostly agricultural. I have tried to take a constructive, economic and climatic, view of the project both in the shorter term during construction and the longer term in energy provision for the country but nothing I hear or have had presented gives me any confidence that will negate the amount of impact the project will have on Bishopton and the surrounding are. In the shorter term during the construction phase, significant disruption due to additional heavy haulage, roads dug up for cabling, increased traffic generally and the potential for theft of the new infrastructure. In the longer term panels visible from many locations, noise from batteries, high intensity lights to improve security due to the point above and the reduced amount of farmland able to supply agricultural product. The developer, despite its size, gives no confidence in its defence of the project. By example it had an open event at one location but provided the address to be in a completely different area. Human error or tactical move? Placing livestock on the solar farm to appease people who question the agricultural impact, but advice states this will not work. Non fossil fuel energy generation is laudable but place the source on a brown field site that has no impact, locally, on people or villages. Don't allow develpment to change rurasl areas into industrial zones. Push the developer to find brown field sites. They will not compensate me for the negative impact their investment has on my own investment in my home. How can a project be considered that surrounds an area from at least two directions. Bishopton is in a conservation area with medieval sites. Lets keep it that way.