29/11/20 Latest update on the proposal
As promised, we would like to share an update on the latest activity with regards to the Bracon Ash solar farm proposal.
Since the ‘Have your Say’ session on 3rd November the residents group have been collating all the feedback from those who attended and combined the views raised with those from the online forms, direct email responses and informal face to face encounters. We did this in preparation for a meeting with the Director representing the developer Luminous Energy & Mr Berney the landowner, along with our District Councillor and Parish Council Chair on 19th November.
We had an open and honest discussion regarding the concerns raised by the village and the challenges to be met. The majority of the village residents are not against renewable energy per se, nor are they against the landowner running his farm as a profitable business.
HOWEVER, we made it very clear that the location of this solar farm would have a significant impact on many of those in the village, the natural beauty of the land today and if not managed properly, potentially on local wildlife too. The loss of valuable arable farmland, which is equally key to our future ecosystem, would also need to be balanced. We were explicit that these impacts would need to be mitigated satisfactorily in order for the village to support any proposal and not submit a complete and full objection to the solar farm – especially in light of the fact that another very large solar farm is being proposed very close by.
Based on all the views we’ve garnered over the past 2 months, There are 2 ’RED LINES’ or non negotiable points;
1. The solar farm must not come anywhere south of the current Public Right of Way (PRoW) (i.e. the farm boundary stops North of the path which bisects the land). The current proposal is too large, comes too close to the houses on School Road, has too significant an impact on the natural beauty of the land in this location (exacerbated by the 2 meter high fencing that will surround the site).
2. The Public Right of Way must not be impacted and remains a pleasant walk for users. This to be ensured by taking sensitive steps to install appropriate and mature screening on all boundaries of the site and the importance of biodiversity and protecting the resident wildlife.
On these “RED LINES” we asked for a clear and binding commitment to meet any promises.
Finally, we spoke about how the development would seek to give back to the village community. There is no doubt that this farm will have an impact on the village, it will change the legacy that has been left to the village to date and not through choice, most would not choose this outcome for the land. We briefly touched on some possible options, for “community giveback” but we have left the Luminous team to work these through as part of their proposal.
NEXT STEPS
The developer has said they would like to share their proposals with us as soon as they have worked these through and prior to any formal application submission. They shared their desired timeline with us, which was to submit a planning proposal by the end of January. This means over the course of December / January we should see some more detail that we can respond to.
We hope this gives you a good understanding of where this process is and the position we are currently taking on behalf of the village as a whole. We hope you are in support of this position but please do contact us via email if you would like to discuss further and still have key concerns that you are not sure we are adequately addressing. Rest assured all the concerns we have noted and shared and will be explored when the proposal is available; we have merely focused on the above at this stage to enable the most significant objections to be addressed as priority.
