Representation by Katherine Kitching
- Date submitted
- 7 April 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I STONGLY OBJECT To the Byers Gill Solar Industrial site. There are many, many reasons why this proposal is unacceptable, I am confident that the many residents, friends, family and the wider community will give you a flavour of the unacceptance of this Solar site proposed to surround our beautiful countryside surrounding the villages of Great Stainton, Bishopton, Little Stainton and more I am a farmer’s daughter and wife, therefore my objection is focused on the absolute disgrace of losing prime agricultural land. RWE state that they are only taking low grade land, however, we farm land in the proposed area and know from speaking to Agronomists that this land is predominantly Grade 3, which has proven for many, many years produces very good, high yielding cereals and oil seed rape. The sub grading is totally dependent on weather conditions and farmers inputs. There is no such thing as poor land, it just needs farming accordingly. Soil grading of 3a or b certainly does not mean that it deems the land inappropriate for agricultural farming, as history has already proven. Our country already produces 40% less food than it demands, 40-50% less fruit and veg than the country requires. We are already importing to meet this gap!! This also raises other issues, the UK has a very secure ‘red tractor’ food hygiene scheme, other countries do not, therefore, we are potentially consuming food containing toxic chemicals which have been banned from our food chain. How can the government condone the removal of even more prime agricultural food production when it has already been debated in parliament the support for more North Sea wind generation, surely this makes more sense. Our beautiful green & Pleasant land has the potential to be ruined unless someone listens to common sense. These solar developments are proposed to be there for 40 years, RWE blueprint states that no construction can take place in adverse weather conditions, which would ruin the structure of the soil, and that the top soil, upper & lower sub soil will be removed, kept separate and stored. The current solar site already in our area, has been under construction from the end of 2023 into the first quarter of 2024, probably the wettest period in our lifetime. The mud bath of HGV, Diggers, piling equipment is so upsetting to the surrounding agricultural community, not to mention the travelling commuters, services, Emergency services in the area. This access road is now covered in pot holes and mud, the only access for commuters is a strip of surface down the centre of the road. This site is 90 acres, Byers Gill is 2600 acres, the equivalent of 1200 football pitches. UNIMAGINABLE!! After the proposed 40 years of losing prime agricultural land, experts then expect another 5 years minimum to start to remove the piling structures, wiring etc, replace the top & Sub soils (which incidentally RWE have not yet stated where & how this is to be stored for 40+ years) This is 45 + years of loss of food production Has the government even considered the long term impact of this?!! My feelings are very strongly opposed to this proposal. JBM asked our villages for objections and received 377 from 2 small villages, 99% objection, that is a very loud signal that this is not wanted. We are now told by RWE that we all have to submit our objections again, and that the previous objections do not count. They have also made this objection process predominantly online, which in an aging community are obviously going to silence our voices. There is an option to ring for paper copies, which when rang the number cuts off. This is forcing us to get copies via other routes, which we will do. We will not be silenced. We are a strong community, standing together to fight for something which we believe is wrong. We do care about our countryside, local farmers, residents, and the wider community who are going to be affected by Byers Gill. WE STAND STRONG TOGETHER TO FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO SAVE OUR AGRICULTURAL LAND