Solar Farm Decision Deferred - but the fight continues

Villagers fill the public gallery

Over 60 residents attended the Planning Committee meeting on Tue 22^nd Jan. A packed public gallery heard the committee vote to defer the decision on the application until the next meeting on Tue 19^th February. The reason for the deferral is that the planners have failed to consult Sport England. Sport England is a statutory consultee where there is a development which is likely to prejudice the use of a playing field. Sport England will now be consulted and we are hopeful that they will properly address the concerns of the cricketers whose objections we feel have been ignored by HBBC.

A week prior to this, the planning officers report to the Planning Committee recommended approval of the application. Our concerns about visual impact and change in character of the area have been ignored, with the planning officer making statements such as “… there are not considered to be any adverse impacts arising from the siting of the development on either the character of the surrounding countryside or landscape, or in terms of visual amenity…”. We think this is outrageous and we are not taking it lying down. We have paid for professional advice from a planning consultancy and they have written on our behalf addressing flaws in the planning officer’s report. The letter was sent on 17^th Jan and we are still awaiting a response.

There have been many further changes to the application over the past few weeks. You will find these on HBBCs planning portal.

·         A second flood risk assessment has been submitted by Freetricity – this has been rejected by the Environment Agency.

·         There are revised planting proposals. We still say these will not work and will do little to mitigate the impact.

·         The oak tree is now to be retained. However the number of solar panels has grown to 7870 we are not sure where the extra panels are located.

We are not being consulted on any of these changes as the deadline for comments has passed. We are saying this is not right; screening and landscaping is a material concern and should be subject to public consultation and scrutiny.

So mixed news really, but we are convinced of our objection case and we are buoyed by the massive support from the community - so the fight goes on. We are regrouping to consider our next steps.

Inside the Stoker you will find an article on how the community has pulled together to oppose the solar farm.

Thank you for your continued support

Now you see them, now you don't, now you do!

No we are not talking about our stolen display boards this time (see earlier post). We are talking about inverters. These are the equipment which takes the output from the solar panels and transforms it for the grid.

The original submission has 15 of them housed in brick built structures approx 8ft high. Plans were issued around the 12th December for the screening proposals and they had disappeared - all gone. Yesterday (20th December) they reappeared on a drawing and are now located away from the rec edge (sounds better) but there are now 45 of them! No explanation, no mention of enclosures. Anybody who has previously commented on the application to HBBC has been written to and invited to recomment. Hopefully your letter will arrive before christmas With no more information than this its difficult to know how to comment. I only have questions:
- why have they moved?
- why now 45 rather than 15?
- what do they look like and are they enclosed in buildings; if not what are the safety implications for anybody gaining access to the site?
- does this mean more noise or less noise?

The deadline for comments has been extended to the 27th December 2012

Stoke Golding Parish Council says "No"

Those of you who have been following this story will know that the Parish Council did not consider that the view offered by the residents group represented that of the village & had not been prepared to oppose the proposed solar farm, saying “The Parish Council can find no reason to oppose the application under existing planning rules”.

We knew this was not right and last night (19th Dec) we went along to a special Parish Council meeting to prove it. We presented the evidence from the petition and we presented the planning reasons for objection. After some debate, the Parish Council accepted the arguments and passed the following resolution unanimously:

“The Parish Council notes that the majority of residents oppose the development and have valid objections supported by planning policies. Accordingly the Parish Council agrees to strongly oppose the development on behalf of the residents”

This is a great outcome. We are very pleased to now have the Parish Council onboard and it also proves that we have a very sound case. 

Thanks to all who turned out to support us.

Stoke Golding says "No"

A team of people have been out and about on the streets of Stoke Golding asking people about their views on the proposed solar farm. They took with them the petition which will be used as part of the opposition case against the solar farm.

At the end of the weekend we had managed to contact 471 houses out of a total of 734. Of the 471 houses, 352 households signed the petition (75%). The remaining houses were unwilling to sign with a large proportion of these neutral or having no view. In total 454 people have now signed the petition.

Statistically this is a very valid representation of the views of the village achieving a confidence level of over 95% in the results.

So thank you to all who signed the petition, but we need more as this will carry only limited weight with the planners. At the last count the planners had received around 70 letters of objection which is high but low compared to the 352 households who signed the petition.So please do take a few minutes to put pen to paper. All the information you need to write in is here on this website.

Revised plans on Portal

Just to let you know that Freetricity have submitted revised plans on the planning portal. To have a look at them go to here

They are pretty confusing as there doesn't seem to be any change control - e.g document dates say 24.09.2012 and no revision history either so you have to play "spot the difference". As far as I have been able to establish, the main changes are
1. 9 short rows of panel removed outside houses at end of Pine Close, to be replaced by a wildflower meadow
2. Mature tree removed and additional panels added to parcel 2-3. This is shown on the new Site Block Plan
3. Plans for screening along the rec have have been submitted. This seem to be a 1 metre mound planted with a mixture of trees and some hedgerows.
3. Inverters have disappeared from all the revised drawings!!

We are reviewing these docs, but thought you might like to take a look for yourself. I have uploaded the Detailed Planting Proposal as this is probably the document of most interest.

If you had previously submitted comments you should have received a letter by now from HBBC advising you that plans have changed and telling you the closing date for comments remains unchanged - i.e. 23rd Dec 2012.

Now you see them, now you don't

These signs were put up today on the entrance to the village by St Martins saying "Say No to the Solar Farm". Within a few hours they have been removed (stolen it would seem). Maybe it was the same people who removed the statutory consultation notice from Pine Close.

What next? Will everybody displaying posters in their windows have bricks put through them?

David Tredinnick MP came to Stoke Golding

A large gathering of residents  braved the elements to show MP David Tredinnick and County Councillor Ivan Ould their dismay at a proposed 16 acre solar panel farm to be surrounded by an 8 foot high security fence that would run alongside the village recreation ground.

Despite driving rain and icy winds around 60 people turned up to explain why there was such an overwhelming objection to this massive development. They explained to Mr Tredinnick and Cllr Ould that the recreation ground is the only green area in the village where people of all ages can safely walk, play, take part in sporting activities and enjoy events and activities.  The open landscape is enjoyed and valued by everyone and will be completely ruined if the development goes ahead.

Mr Tredinnick listened carefully and openly to what residents had to say and promised that he would make representations on our behalf as did Cllr Ould.

Thank you to all who turned up in such horrible conditions. It is heartening to see people standing up so strongly for what they believe to be right.