Representation by SUSAN MELANEY
- Date submitted
- 8 May 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
This project is wrong. It will decimate this area and with its construction turn it into an industrial plant. Planned industrialization on this scale is a National issue and anything but green. My village is a Conservation Village and this Project if it goes ahead will destroy wildlife, long established woodlands. The area will suffer from not only the visual effects of the sites but our residents mental health and welfare will be affected. This project would be detrimental to our communities. There being a total of 2,600 acres of agricultural land, the equivalent of 1200 football pitches potentially, destroyed by this project and at a time of uncertainty in the world our government should be looking to sustain and protect our food security. The developer has not! properly consulted with the residents and its practices have been nothing short of underhand. They have failed to listen to residents concerns and quite clearly did not know the area they were considering to construct this solar farm. the only reason given for picking this area is because they can hook up to the National Grid. The panels are being manufactured in China and therefore we cannot guarantee their safety. The technology being used is primitive to say the least and if this goes ahead the effects will be irreversible for years to come. I am extremely alarmed by the BESS unit storage facilities and the hazard they propose. One of which is being placed near to our school and village playground. There have been numerous reports in the media, and evidence is strong that these are unstable and in the event of a fire, are virtually un-extinguishable and give off toxic fumes. I am not against Solar Farms but why oh why aren't they being built on brownfield sites? There are hundreds of them laid bare. Why are developers looking at quiet residential areas where the effects of these sites are so!detrimental? Why are they surrounding residential property, some of these panels, and they are bragging about this, are within meters of residential homes? Destroying lively hoods and peace of mind. How can that be possible? Going forward our government should be considering alternative methods for green energy, there are better ways! There are alsom 11 other projects of this type proposed within 4 miles of this area. I am very concerned about the cumulative effects of all these proposals and the Byers Gill Solar Farm. This must be seriously studied and reported. It is imperative that we get this right. The effects of wrong decisions, harmful to our population are being unearthed daily.