Representation by Maxine Birkett
- Date submitted
- 23 February 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am in objection to the proposals for a massive solar farm on my doorstep. The scheme is far too big and virtually surrounds the village where I live, [REDACTED]. It comes far too close to our home. It will completely change the character of the landscape that I live in to an industrial landscape of huge solar panels surrounded by fences. I currently live in a rural hamlet surrounded by fields which are farmed for cereal crops and have been for centuries. This is not a barren wasteland, this is a living, working, farming landscape. I choose to live at [REDACTED] because I enjoy walking around the farmland, country lanes, bridleways and footpaths. I enjoy the wide open nature of my surroundings, I enjoy watching the wildlife and the sense of tranquillity. I do not want to feel hemmed in between fences or have the fields screened from view. The scheme is far too large to be considered in a single application. There are too many documents for anyone to properly consider or scrutinise. There is too large an area to survey for wildlife or archaeology. I understand the need for renewable energy but destroying our farmland just brings another problem, food security. We have wind turbines around this area already and its clear to see that they only take up a fraction of a field and the rest is still available to farm. The size of the proposal is too large. Solar farms that we have seen before in the countryside were more acceptable as they are smaller and more fragmented so that they do not change the entire landscape and do not eliminate habitat for farmland species of birds in particular. This scheme is on an altogether different scale that has not been seen before in this country. I am also worried that the Development Consent Order gives far too much power to the developer. They will have the right to compulsory purchase land and manage our roads and footpaths. We only have a single track road in and out of Gribthorpe, which we do not want to be at the mercy of the developer.