We are a rural Parish Council in North Muskham, Newark and Sherwood, Nottinghamshire and are not opposed to solar energy. We are also fully aware of the implications of climate change and support reasonable mitigation. We do however believe that the scale of the proposed Great North Road (GNR) Solar Farm in and near our village is far too large and in an area that already has well over 10,000 acres of planning applications including the large nearby One Earth proposal and a ever increasing number of other smaller schemes.
The proposed GNR Solar Farm alone will be the largest in the UK covering over 7,000 acres. It is expected that additional solar development will be connected to the GNR infrastructure in the future.
The overwhelming feedback from residents is opposition to this development and it is our duty as a Parish Council to represent those views and achieve the best outcome for our village we can. In order to achieve this we need to engage the professional services of planning consultants to provide the best response to the proposal as possible. This needs to include reasonable mitigation should the scheme be given the go ahead as it will stay in place for at least 40 years.
Much of the land is valuable farm land which will be taken out of action for decades to come. The impact on flood risk in an area already subject to flooding is at this stage, unknown. The impacts on landscape, ecology and habitats however can be foreseen. The impacts of such a mass of solar panels on our psychological and physical health are at this stage unknown.
The development phase alone will cause severe disruption given the size and volume of equipment and number of HGV movements with unsuitable access.
The Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State will determine the GNR application which will be made in the new year. It is essential that our submissions of objections and mitigations are based on specific planning considerations for them to be considered and therefore we need the expertise of a suitable planning consultant. The costs of such will be shared with several parish councils in the affected area and together we will, using the skills of a consultant submit a collective response. Our aim is to raise £5,000.
It is only right and proper that the proposal is scrutinised professionally and not let emotion be the basis of an objection.
The Parish Council totally respect the views of those that may be supportive of the scheme or of large scale solar farms in general and appreciate the complexities involved.
If you agree with our plans to engage a consultant in North Muskham then we would appreciate any funding regardless of size that you can and are prepared to make.