Wickwar Parish Council
Extra ordinary Meeting of the Parish Council – Minutes
A meeting of the above Council was held on Tuesday 9th February 2021, via ZOOM, commencing at 7.00pm.
Attended:
Councillor S Isaac
Councillor A Carroll
Councillor C Maidment
Councillor G Fielding
Councillor A Pennington
Ward Councillor and Councillor P Trull
Apologies:
None
Clerk:
Mrs R Davis
Public time (20 minutes)
Several members of the public attended to restate their concerns about application P20/24180/F – installation of a 4.99MW solar farm, on the agenda.
1.02b.21To RECEIVE apologies for absence.
No apologies were received.
2.02b.21 To NOTE and RECORD Declarations of Interests relevant to this meeting.
None.
3.02b.21 Planning – For the Council to REVIEW and COMMENT on the following planning application: P20/24180/F Newlands Farm West End Wickwar South Gloucestershire GL12 8LD: Installation of a 49.99mw solar farm and associated infrastructure including substation, transformer stations, internal access road, perimeter security fence and access gates and internal access tracks.
It was proposed, seconded and RESOLVED to object to this application and to submit the following comments.
Wickwar Parish Council objects to this application on the grounds that the applicant has failed to address a number of issues:
First and foremost, there is no indication that a brownfield site has been sought to alleviate the need to use productive farmland as per Government policy.
Wickwar Parish Council is aware that South Gloucestershire Council has a target to be carbon neutral by 2030. It is also understood that the approval of the proposed solar farm would contribute to achieving this target. However, the development decision should not be focused on this criterion alone, but should take into account the wider harm that such a development would cause to the community of Wickwar and the loss of countryside amenities for the wider population of South Gloucestershire.
The importance of this area is recognised in the South Gloucestershire Local Plan Core Strategy 2006-2027 which states under Policy CS34 Rural Areas that development proposals will take account of the vision for the rural areas and will:
● protect, conserve and enhance the rural areas’ distinctive character, beauty, wildlife, landscape, biodiversity and heritage;
● protect the unique and valuable setting provided by the rural areas to the urban areas and other settlements in South Gloucestershire, which contributes to the district’s distinctive sense of place and identity;
● demonstrate through appropriate Flood Risk Assessments surface water plans and drainage strategies, how flood risk will be managed.
Policy CS3 Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Generation also states ‘Renewable or low carbon energy installations will not be supported in areas covered by national designation and areas of local landscape value unless they do not individually or cumulatively compromise the objectives of the designations especially with regard to landscape character, visual impact and residential amenity’.
The proposed development will impact negatively on policy CS34 and go against policy CS3 due to the sheer size and scale of the development.
As such this proposed development should be refused.
At a more detailed level the following points of concern are raised
South Gloucestershire policy framework states such solar farms are approved typically for 25 years allowing a review point against the policy framework and environment at that time, when the cumulative impact of such installations may begin to undermine landscape character. The proposed development is for 40 years which is 15 years greater than the proposed 25 years.
● The sheer size, covering 15 fields or approximately 167 acres, will have a huge impact on the distinctive character, beauty, wildlife, sense of place and identity of the area.
● The development is designated at 49.99 Mw which is right on the upper limit, above which the developer would be responsible for providing additional infrastructure. Furthermore, a full environmental impact assessment is not required by 0.01 of a Mw. Wickwar Parish Council argues that the mitigation for wildlife habitat loss is inadequate and for such a significant size of development, a full environmental impact assessment should be carried out.
● The Parish Council also requests that the developers/ Planning Authority confirm how biodiversity mitigations will be maintained, monitored and enforced for the 40 year life of the project
● The roads adjacent to the development are prone to flooding now and this site has the potential to introduce impermeable areas around the site where the current fields provide a permeable membrane. This could result in additional flooding. The mitigation for flood risk is inadequate with no information on how the site will be maintained for the next 40 years to protect the neighbouring properties. This must be addressed.
● The provision of two metre high fencing around the site, along with the installation of CCTV cameras will dramatically impact the landscape character and have a negative visual impact, along with concerns for privacy because of the CCTV cameras. In fact the police have recommended more robust fencing to stop criminal activities which will only exacerbate the negative visual impact.
● There are two public rights of away across the proposed development along with an adjacent bridleway, which will all be negatively impacted by the development. This will result in a loss of amenity for the local community and people outside the area.
● The heritage report states that the site has the potential for the presence of medieval and post medieval deposits, and also the possibility of deposits from prehistoric and the Roman British period. The heritage report was principally a desk top exercise. It is felt that this is not adequate and a more comprehensive approach is required. Furthermore, the site lies in close proximity to the Hall End Roman town. The Parish Council strongly requests that further advice on the potential impact of this development is sought from South Gloucestershire Council Heritage and Archaeology officers.
● The ecological survey has identified the presence of the following breeding birds of conservation concern: skylark; linnet; dunnock; song thrush and yellowhammer. It should be noted that the skylark and the linnet are at the highest conservation priority and are globally threatened. The skylark in particular, being a ground nesting bird, would be severely impacted by the solar farm.
The meeting was closed at 7.30pm.