Representation by Dorathy Chapman
- Date submitted
- 17 May 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
My daughter and son in law reside in Great Stainton and I live a few miles from them. I wish to object at the plans to construct a huge solar farm known as the Byers Gill project. My objection is that it seems inconceivable that such a project is a good use of 2500 acres of good productive farmland. Wind turbines are far more effective in their footprint on the land in producing electricity and far less invasive. At a time when we only produce 55% of our own food someone in government believes it is a good idea to take out of production so much farmland. There needs to be a strategic view of the effect of the large and small solar farm applications in their totality to look at what effect they are having on the ability to produce our own food. The farms will have a lifetime of at least 40 years and restrict the agility of the country to react to potential hazards such as climate change, international conflicts or food producing countries of the world restricting their exports to the UK. It seems to me that in a small geographical country we need to maximise the efficient use of our land. The Byers Gill project is inefficient in the use of the land to produce electricity. Not only does it take a huge swath of land out of production, but it also has a limited capacity to produce electricity due to the weather and the seasons. Wind power is far more effective and efficient. I urge the planning authority to reject this application that will blight the lives of many in this region and urge the applicants to produce an application that makes more effective use of the precious land in this area.