Representation by Christine E Briscoe
- Date submitted
- 8 April 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Having been born in Bishopton almost 77 years ago & my family having lived here throughout, I returned to the village on retirement as it offered me health-sustaining, rural surroundings in which to maintain my health and mental wellbeing. Medical advice is always to take plenty of exercise and plenty of fresh air. At a stroke this project will take all this away from me. There will be nowhere to take safe countryside walks & without a doubt my mental health will deteriorate. I would not feel safe walking alone through an industrial site, noise and vibration from the equipment would be distressing & the potential visual impact breaks my heart. My village will be surrounded by ugly solar panels. I live in Church View, leading to Mill Lane. It is clear that ALL the construction traffic will have to pass my front door many times per day. The road already becomes congested, at school times ( I do not object to school traffic) and huge horse boxes pass several times a day to and from the Equestrian Centres. My narrow, village road - never constructed for use by heavy traffic - is already becoming busier, and more dangerous, than many main roads. I fear, too, for the integrity of my house (early 19th Century). The road already floods, and the traffic washes the water onto the house. And all of this at the heart of a Conservation area! The close proximity of the school to the site is indeed worrying. We are blessed with a wonderful school here, helped in no small part by its openness to the countryside - so necessary, as the Prime Minister says, to the wellbeing of our children. And wild life - need I say more. Such vandalism will ruin the habitats of so many precious species, many of which share our garden (despite the fact that during the consultation visit we were offered a few bird boxes as recompense!!). Warmer spring / summer evenings bring us great pleasure watching the bats on their nightly hunt for insects. I have so much more to say, which I will hopefully be given the opportunity to pass on. No-one has yet been able to convince me that this solar farm is the best option for our nation - a nation bent on destroying the means to feed its own people. Meanwhile, my heart aches.