Little Sharpshaw Solar Farm Proposal: Quick Summary

Developer AEE plan to build an industrial-scale solar farm of 22,000 black panels, stretching for over a mile of the A361 between the Marston Road area of Frome and Ridgeway. It will cover an area the size of Nunney with an industrial development, and it is one of several that are proposed within a few miles of Frome. Our objections are specific to this development. They are NOT objections to renewable energy in Mendip, which we see as an important part of our community's future. However, we believe that the proposal is far from industry good practice, and that planning permission should be refused for a number of reasons:

1. The proposal falls substantially below best practice, as demonstrated by other firms in the industry. 2. This is a poorly chosen site with a very high visibility impact on the surrounding landscape. 3. It is taking productive arable and grazing farmland out of agricultural use, in direct contravention of both National and District planning policy which prefers brownfield and low grade agricultural land. 4. It is industrialising a rural landscape with little attempt being made at fitting in to its environment (unlike many other solar farms). 5. The effect of noise, glint and glare on local residents and drivers on the A361. 6. The cumulative impact could be immense – it's one of a number of such developments either existing or proposed within a few miles of Frome.

We are very much FOR renewable energy. Renewables currently enjoy broad support in the UK, but irresponsible and rushed applications, such as the one relating to Little Sharpshaw Farm, risk turning public opinion against the solar energy industry. Whatever your own opinion of renewable energy, we believe that we deserve to see at the very least good (even best) practice from the large scale solar industry in Somerset, minimising landscape impact, in well-chosen locations, not be fobbed off with poorly considered, high-impact, large scale developments; developments that are being rushed into planning in order to get them operational before subsidy rates change.

What can you do?

Write in objection to Mendip once the scheme goes in for planning. This will be in the next few days. For more information on how to object, and/or to register to be notified by email or text when the plans are available for objection, please visit our website www.stoplittlesharpshawsolar.co.uk, or phone 01373 836 476 and have a chat with Liam!

Little Sharpshaw Solar Farm Proposal: More Detail

Developer AEE plan to build a large-scale solar farm of 22,000 black panels, stretching for over a mile of the A361 between the Marston Road area of Frome and Ridgeway. It will cover an area the size of Nunney with an industrial development, and it is one of several that are proposed within a few miles of Frome. Our objections are specific to this development. They are not objections to renewable energy in Mendip, which we see as an important part of our community's future.

1. The proposal falls substantially below best practice

It is possible for a large scale solar development to fit into its environment.

Best practice on location is for sites to be chosen that are brownfield or low grade agricultural land unsuitable for arable production or regular grazing, sites that are largely invisible from the surrounding landscape thanks to pre- existing screening.

Best practice on visual character is for substations and electrical switchgear to be housed buildings of agricultural Figure 1: visual character – good character clad in timber or local stone; for any hedging to be practice transformer housing as in 'instant hedging' style mature and semi mature native species Cornwall CC's planning guidance rather than hedging whips; for fencing to be highly note on large scale solar agricultural in character without industrial signage (such signage used instead on the panel units themselves).

Best practice on environmental impact assessment is that any development of over 5 hectares of, e.g., greenhouses, should be subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment, even if not explicitly required.

Best practice on environmental gain is for ongoing organic or near-organic management of species-rich meadow and/or regular grazing, hand-pulling of noxious weeds, bee friendly species established via plug plants where simple seeding fails, widely spaced panel rows allowing for hay cuts.

Typical practice1 on community gain is for a section 106 agreement to provide a unilateral donation of £1,000 per megawatt per year – this would be £5,000 per year (inflation linked) for the twenty-five year lifetime of this project. This is a minimum standard figure. Figure 2: environmental gain – poor practice lack of meadow The Little Sharpshaw proposal fails to meet any of these good establishment or management after practices. 18 months at AEE Bradford on Avon, herbicides regularly used

1 Confirmed by Colm Murphy, Elgin Energy (a Solar Farm Development Firm operating out of Bristol and Dublin) as standard practice.

2. This is a poorly chosen site with a very high visibility impact on the surrounding countryside

Figure 3: The proposed site; comparable in size to all of Nunney

The proposed development site is on a ridge and will dominate the landscape. At their highest point the black panels will be 3.5m from ground level. From the A361, they will block over a mile of beautiful pastoral views across the valley to Whatley and Cranmore Tower. The panels will be clearly visible not just from driving along the A361 but also from large parts of residential Nunney, Ridgeway, Trudoxhill, The Marston Lane, Whitemill lane and Critchill areas of Frome, as well as being in the line of sight of several listed properties including nearby Marston House. The developers own 'Zone of Theoretical Visibility' map shows that the site will be visible from Chantry, Tytherington, Whatley, as well as from parts of Trudoxhill and Selwood parishes.

Figure 4: The current view from the A361; fine, far reaching pastoral views across to Cranmore Tower and Whatley Church.

Guidance from the Solar Industries own Trade Association as well as groups such as the Campaign to Protect Rural Engand (quoted) advises: “Appropriate sites would be flat with poor intervisibility with the surrounding landscape and with a pattern of large, simple geometric enclosures. Inappropriate sites would be sloping land highly visible from the surroundings”. The Mendip District Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework both require avoidance of highly visible sites. 3. It is taking productive farmland out of agricultural use

The land under consideration for development is good, productive arable farm land that has been used for the growing of wheat, maize and silage, as well as for cattle grazing. This proposal will take this valuable land out of production for at least the next 25 years.

Government National Policy is for industrial-scale solar “farms” to be sited on brownfield sites or on low value agricultural land (eg suited only for sheep grazing) – unlike the productive arable land at Little Sharpshaw Farm. The Mendip District Plan echoes this, as does Friends Of The Earth: “We would be concerned if solar farms were pushing out prime agricultural land but there's no real need for it to happen, there are enough roofs on houses, factories, local authority buildings and enough brown-field sites and waste land” and guidance produced by the Solar Farm’s own Solar Trade Association: “Solar farms are generally installed on brown field sites (e.g. disused airfields) or on areas that have been ranked under the Agricultural Land Classification as lower grade land.”

4. It is industrialising a rural landscape

In addition to the erection of the 22,000 black solar panels, the site will include a number of transformers and one giant substation. These all resemble large metal shipping containers and each stands approx 3m (9') high. The whole site will then be surrounded by 3m high fencing. At AEE's Kingston Farm Figure 5: 'shipping container' style development near transformer housing at AEE's Bradford on Avon, this Bradford-on-Avon site is topped with barbed wire, and covered in bright yellow “danger of death” signs at regular intervals. 95% of the proposed Little Sharpshaw site boundary has no pre-existing visual screening. Any new hedge planting will take up to 15 years to provide any significant year-round Figure 6: broken scrub ground screening (and will still lack height and depth), and owing to dominated by dock and nettles, 3m the sloping nature of the site, can only ever hope to partially high fencing, industrial signage at screen the panels, transformers and substation. Twenty-five AEE's Bradford on Avon site years is a long time to suffer the industrial visual impact of this project.

5. The effect of noise, glint and glare on local residents and drivers

The large metal substation that will channel the solar power into the grid is currently located in the most residential area of the entire 34 acre development – 150m from the houses on the Ridgeway. The substation will emit a low level but constant hum – audible to local residents especially at night when natural or man-made noise is at a minimum.

Additionally, AEE have acknowledged that glint and glare will occur “in areas directly east and west of the solar park during sunset and sunrise during Spring and Summer.” The West end of the development is the residential area of Ridgeway. Marston roundabout sits at the far East of the development, with roads leaving off it to Frome, Shepton Mallet and to Westbury/Bath.

6. The cumulative impact could be immense

This is just one of 12 industrial scale solar schemes that are currently being proposed or are sited within 15 miles of the village of Nunney. The five nearest (in addition to the Little Sharpshaw proposed development in Frome/Nunney), include Doulting (also by AEE, which has been refused planning by Mendip due to similarly inappropriate siting. AEE are appealing). Other developers are proposing large scale solar schemes at Monksham Farm (Trudoxhill), New Tyning Farm (Kilmersdon), and Bolters Lane (Downside). Comment [CP1]: Map would be useful

Figure 7: known large scale solar developments proposed or under construction to the west of Frome. These are only the ones we are aware of - there may be others at the screening stage not shown.

The large number of these large scale solar developments, each one the size of a village, all going through the planning process at roughly the same time, requires the location of each and every site and how well it is fitted to its landscape to be carefully considered. This is perhaps the biggest change in the rural landscape for a generation, with little co-ordinated planning of appropriate sites, and all may occur in a matter of months. In Summary

We are very much FOR renewable energy. Renewables currently enjoy broad support in the UK, but irresponsible and rushed applications, such as the one relating to Little Sharpshaw Farm, risk turning public opinion against the solar energy industry. We believe that we deserve to see good (even best) practice from the large scale solar industry in Somerset, minimising landscape impact, in well-chosen locations, not be fobbed off with poorly considered, high-impact, large scale developments rushed into planning to get them operational before subsidy rates change.

At the recent Large Scale Solar Conference, Energy & Climate Change Minister Greg Barker warned the solar industry that it must be mindful about selecting and developing only the most suitable sites in order to ensure that solar retains its current level of popularity with the British public: For larger solar proposals “brownfield land should always be preferred… disused airfields, degraded soil and former industrial sites… buildings and brownfield land – not greenfield. Where solar farms are not on brownfield land, you must be looking at low grade agricultural land” The minister then spoke of the need to stop “irresponsible large-scale developments”.

What can you do?