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Planning permission was refused for this development. View the documents and decision here.
Background
Last week, I attended an exhibition outlining the proposal to develop a solar farm on agricultural land in Godalming. The farm in question (though not the same field) was recently at the centre of a storm of protest over the proposal to site a bargate stone quarry there. This latest proposal claims to contribute to the Government's green energy target by producing electricity, direct to the power grid, from a field near Secretts farm in Milford.
Who is affected?
Curiously, the only public consultation, to date, for the proposal took place in Shackleford, and from my inspection of the location of the development, people in Shackleford will be minimally affected, except perhaps for a visual impact from the A3.
Those most affected don't yet seem to be concerned about the proposal. If you live in Eashing Lane or in Chapel Lane, or any of the roads in Ockford Ridge, Aarons Hill and around Secretts farm in Milford, you will be affected. So please do everything you can to find out about the plans.
Similar plans by Solar Power South Ltd have been approved in Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton in Somerset, though not without public outcry.
Solar Power South Ltd
Whilst I support green energy initiatives, I do have my concerns that solar farm companies are cashing in on Government subsidies and attractive tariffs for feeding energy back into the grid. I was told by Mr Barry Burke of Solar Power South Ltd that this development will be submitted to Guildford Borough Council for planning approval and contractors appointed. His involvement will end there. He will not be responsible for the long term maintenance of the site. The site will be dismantled after 25 years. A pension fund (or other long-term investment vehicle) will be sought to benefit from the ongoing sales of energy to the grid. No storage 'batteries' are being considered, so the energy produced will need to be sold immediately for use both nationally and internationally. There is no obvious local industry which will benefit from this energy. There will be no community benefit.
The site
The land is currently arable land. The proposal sites grazing for sheep. There are no public footpaths or bridleways affected by the development.
The site will be subject to anti-vandal CCTV and motion sensor detectors in the surrounding fencing. There will not be lighting on site. The photo-voltaic (PV) panels will be ranked and tiered, standing from 0.9m at the front and rising to 2.5m at the rear of the site. The cells (around 10,000 of them) will be visible from the road and by residents in the surrounding area. It is not yet clear whether the glint from the panels will cause disruption to traffic, but has not been found to do so in other developments.
Concerns
My overriding concern about this proposal is that it is proposed on viable agricultural land. Why do these companies not look for brownfield sites or industrial sites, especially where the energy can be used locally, at the point of production? Equally, new homes are not yet being built with PV energy cells, and I do question why not? Is it because the public are not yet confident in the suppliers of these schemes? Is the Government not being clear enough about standards in the solar energy industry? These are all questions to be answered.
The local people of Godalming, Milford, Eashing and Shackleford would love to hear from you.
More information
To view the proposed solar farm site, go to Google Maps and input co-ordinates 51.180042,-0.641584.
Disclaimer
I am not in any way connected to Solar Power South Ltd or any other interested parties concerned with this proposal.
