Voice Your Concerns
A planning application for a 50Mw Solar Farm covering 115 hectares on Wrington Hill, has been received by North Somerset Council. Renewable energy like solar power is the way forward, but rather than conserving our environment, this huge industrial scale site, the size of Bristol Airport, will destroy one of our most precious remaining areas of beautiful woodland and countryside.
Huge industrial scale site
This will be one of the largest Solar Farms in the country, containing battery storage areas the size of a small bungalow, and completely surrounded by 2m high fencing with security cameras watching your every move.
Totally inappropriate location
The aesthetic beauty and importance to wildlife conservation of this site cannot be over stated. It is entirely on greenbelt land, and surrounded on 3 sides by woodland, designated as Sites of Special Scientific Intertest (SSSI). It has beautiful views across Wrington vale to the Mendip hills. The image below shows the proposed solar farm site outlined in red, surrounded by SSSI’s (shaded in red and pink) and areas of Nature Conservation Interest (shaded in orange).
Horseshoe and Long Eared Bats
Ever since Broad Field farm stopped milking, Horseshoe bats from Brockley Coombe have been using a significant area of the proposed site to feed, since it’s the nearest place for them to find the cow grazed land they need. They cannot feed on sheep grazed land. There is also a nursery site for brown Long Eared bats in a house less than 250 meters from the site.
Red Kite
Red Kite are trying to establish themselves in Broughton Wood on the boundary of the site, and this year Kestrels have been coming back, encouraged by many small mammals and insects that have made home in the grass, which has been left uncut for longer than normal.
Roe deer
Quite a lot of Roe deer use the site as grazing and access to other fields, and Muntjac deer have also been seen.
Lost for generations to come
Despite reassurances from the developer, in all probability this site will never return back to it’s natural state. In 40 years time at it’s end of life, we will still need power. There will be enormous pressure to renew the licence, or develop the now ‘brownfield’ site for eco-homes. Certainly, old residents will never again see the green fields they once enjoyed.
Beginning of the end for greenbelt
Approving this application will open the way for further ‘eco-initiatives’ on greenbelt land. Being surrounded by greenbelt, Redhill village has enjoyed a protected status which may be lost, as the pressure for more eco-homes increases.
Grey belt land
The UK government has introduced a new policy requiring local councils to identify and review grey belt land within their areas. Grey belt land is defined as areas of the green belt that have already been developed or make a limited contribution to green belt purposes. It would make no sense for North Somerset Council to approve this planning application, until it has completed this Grey belt task, and ascertained whether another site is more suitable.
Express your objections
We don’t have long to object to this planning application. Voice your concerns today on the North Somerset Council website:
https://planning.n-somerset.gov.uk
Planning application: 24/P/1726/EA1
