Representation by Basil Crompton
- Date submitted
- 13 May 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
My first reaction to the Byres Gill solar farm is why destroy valuable good quality farm land for a project which has not proven to be a viable proposition. All the facts prove it is not as productive as wind farms, which we also have on our doorstep! SAFETY: Not enough safety precautions in place, the storage units (4 units) are being placed too close to our local school. Should an explosion occur the consequences could catastrophic. Parents of children at the school have been consulted and the vast majority feel they would not allow the their children to be in such close proximity to what could be potentially be life threatening. Most have indicated, if the application is accepted they would not hesitate to take their children out of the school and relocate them to a safer place of education. Take the children out of school then people leave the village and the village will die. The dangers of exploding battery storage units can be seen at the Carnegie Road solar storage site in Liverpool, even the fire service have stated this was potentially life threatening situation and indeed even they were not equipped for the hazard which developed. The on site safety precautions were not adequate and basically not fit for purpose. It is only a matter of time before a fatality! LOCAL INHABITANTS: The majority of inhabitants have either lived here all their lives or have moved here for the peace and tranquillity of a beautiful country village. Many ourselves included have worked all our lives to pay off mortgages and to end our retirement days here, now we have to fight to defend our right to a peaceful retirement, and to make matters worse we have to employ professionals in this field to fight on our behalf and come up with obscene amounts of money to pay for their service's. A recent documentary springs to mind:" SCREW THE LITTLE PEOPLE" TRAFFIC & DISRUPTION: This is going to be a local nightmare, HGV's and works traffic is going to destroy our peace and quiet and our country lanes and roads. The vast amount of cables and pipes will see our high street under construction months if not year's and of course the input of traffic dangers to our children and older residents. GOVERNMENT: Government has stated they will invest £220 million in offshore wind farms but only £25 million in solar energy, I think that speaks for it's self, wind power is more efficient in production and is greener, Government also pledged they would not allow solar power to use good productive farm land when there is thousands of acres of poor and none productive land, surely this would make more sense? LOCAL GAIN There is no local gain, what minimal amount of solar energy is generated will go straight into the national grid. Developers say it will create local employment, UTTER RUBBISH! The only people to profit from this development, the developers themselves who do not care who's lives they destroy, and the land owners who don't live in the area that will be destroyed. DEVELOPERS: The developers have been devious and untruthful from the outset. 1. They have deliberately made meetings difficult 2. Have produced leaflets most of the contents were misleading 3. Delivered 13 copies to our village hall and 150 copies to a library in Norton 15 miles away without telling anybody 4. They arranged an open meeting in Stockton on Tees 20 miles away hoping nobody would turn up, but we did, what we found was their team were stopping people in the street asking if they were for solar energy, these people had never heard of Byres Gill and didn't care These are just a few to mention. The main reason for this project is purely profit, no thought has been given to local people the disruption and devastation which will affect their daily lives, they don't give dam about the damage it will cause to the surrounding area, wildlife and habitat, the infrastructure to farm land, where the panels are to be situated will disrupt existing land drains and flooding will follow.