Overview
A Proposal on a Huge Scale
Not only is the application in respect of productive good quality agricultural land – something that we urgently require in these times of increasing food shortages – but also its sheer scale and elevated location will dwarf the surrounding landscape, cause visual disturbance to the rural area and have a disproportionate impact on local wildlife and the lives of local people.
The site, which is in the region of 3 to 4 times the size of the local village of Bishops Frome, and comprises a sizeable proportion of the land in the Acton Beauchamp Parish, will produce glint and glare visible from miles around and will have an immense impact upon local character.
How fields at Acton Beauchamp may look.
From Rural to Industrial
We are opposing the application due to its scale and visual disturbance to the rural area. This scheme will remove viable farm land for decades with no local benefit. We believe farmland should be used for food and not industrial scale energy production.
Cleaner Energy Should Not Be At The Expense of the Environment
Whilst no one would dispute that the world needs alternatives to coal, oil and gas as a means for producing energy, putting solar panels on productive good quality agricultural land that will then be blighted for decades to come is not the way forward. As a group, we are not opposed to solar power. However, roofs, brownfield sites, disused airfields, abandoned quarries, industrial developments, motorway curtilage and areas that are not visible for miles around are more appropriate locations for what is, to all intents and purposes, an industrial development.
Agricultural land should be used for food and not industrial-scale energy production. If we don’t maintain this country’s ability to grow food and feed its people, then empty shelves in shops and supermarkets will become the norm, not the exception.
