Representation by Peter Kitching
- Date submitted
- 7 April 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I Strongly object To such a large-scale industrial project on agricultural land. I understand the argument that is being made for energy security, but this should not be at the expense of food security. Especially as there are more efficient ways of producing electricity in this country, I say this because solar is obviously more efficient when the sun shines, but unlike some countries that require air conditioning during the summer, those countries will use the electricity as it is produced at source, without the need for very expensive battery storage systems, as will be the case in this country putting the price onto the consumer. Where as wind power is produced in the winter and is directly used when we heat our homes, and other means such as nuclear can obviously be used as and when. We are destroying good agricultural land on the basis of a prophecy that we can all be converted to driving electric cars, even though there is no infrastructure in place, and many believe that other sources like hydrogen will blow the electric car theory out of the water. For 40-50 years we will have eye sores on the landscape and solar panels with deteriorating efficiency year on year and somebody will be left with the decommissioning of a contaminated site, heavy metals, wires, broken glass and decomposing silicone. The majority of which will end up in landfill. Many of the residents are complaining of stress due to this development, I know this will be passed off as ‘merely a shame’ as long term effects cannot yet be measured. My immediate concern bearing in mind that I will probably not be around to see the long-term effects, as this will fall on future generations, as populations grow and food becomes more scarce, is the immediate effect that it will have on the functionality of our road system in the immediate vicinity, I have witnessed a small development in our area, even this has caused significant blockages to roads initially through the construction of gateways for access of HGV and now with a daily movement of heavy construction equipment. This proposed development is nearly 30 times the size and is in close proximity to surrounding villages so the disruption to commuters, school children, small businesses, and emergency services, would be disastrous. This will have a serious effect on the rural economy. As we have witnessed in the last 18 months, with adverse weather conditions timing for agricultural field operations can be critical, so a large scale development like this will only hold up all of the agricultural contractors/farmers in the area with yet another knock on effect for agricultural production.