Richard submitted his latest written representation to the Planning Inspectorate, as part of its examination of the proposal for a 1900 acre solar energy plant covering 75% Best and Most Versatile agricultural land. In previous submissions, Richard has raised concerns about the sheer scale of the solar plant and loss of productive farmland but in his latest submission he focuses on questions about the financial and safety risks that have not been answered, namely:
- Decommissioning Costs: Who is actually going to pay to dismantle and clear the vast infrastructure at the end of its operational period? Without a guarantee, it risks falling on taxpayers.
- Battery Storage: How much of the energy stored in these batteries will genuinely come from the sun, rather than fossil-fuel energy drawn directly from the National Grid during off-peak hours?
- Pipeline Safety and Liability: Given the site's proximity to a major gas pipeline, what financial security is in place to protect the public from astronomical costs should damage occur during construction or operation?
Richard Fuller MP said:
Destroying our most productive farmland to build a sprawling industrial site is the wrong approach to diversifying our energy mix. Solar belongs on rooftops, not on fields that should be feeding the nation. If this ill-thought-out project goes ahead, we need absolute certainty that taxpayers will not be left to carry the financial burden or the safety risks.
You can read Richard’s latest written submission here and to find out more about Richard's work on this and to read his previous submissions please see his website here.
