Representation by Alison Taylor
- Date submitted
- 27 September 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I live in East Yorkshire but very close to the Helios proposal. My home is in the middle of a massive 3500 acre (400MW) solar farm proposal by Boom Power. I am very concerned about the cumulative impact on this part of Yorkshire from the numerous solar farm applications currently in the pipeline. I am sure we are suffering from this 'blight' because of our proximity to Drax but surely there has to be some consideration for the many communities affected as well as vast swathes of productive farmland? From my experience it seems that local views whilst listened to are dismissed by the government and by the developers because we must make sacrifices for 'the greater good'. The Helios project is in a rural area with very little in the way of infrastructure and narrow roads. Whole villages will be swamped by hundreds of thousands of metal and glass panels that have been imported from the Far East. This situation cannot be acceptable and far more rigorous care needs to be taken when approving these enormous schemes. Solar needs to be in the right place (roofs, brownfield sites, car parks etc) not on farmland. The area will change from a rural landscape to an industrial one and even though the developers take great pains to say the land will return to farming after the 40 year 'temporary' life of the panels it is widely thought that the land will not be fit to grow anything afterwards.