An anti solar campaign group has welcomed East Riding Council’s move to publish an interactive map showing the locations of proposed energy developments across the county. The move comes amidst a number of solar developments making headlines in the region.
East Riding Against Solar Expansion (ERASE) have welcomed the introduction of the map, which can be found on the council’s website. The group, perhaps unsurprisingly given its name, have voiced their concerns with a number of solar developments in the East Riding including the proposed Molescroft Solar Farm near Beverley.
The map depicts a large section of the land east of Beverley being subject to solar proposals. It also shows wind turbine developments.
On the introduction of the map, the council has said: “The map provides geographical locational information on the renewable energy planning applications, received by East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s planning department. This will facilitate greater understanding of energy developments for parish and town councils, local communities, and members of the public.”
ERASE say the map will help illustrate the scale of developments proposed for the East Riding. The group’s spokesperson, George McManus has said: “This is a very welcome development. At meetings earlier this year, the council took our concerns on board and have taken action. The primary objective of our campaign is to raise public awareness. Recent straw polling undertaken by ERASE has revealed the vast majority of the public are totally unaware of what’s in the pipeline.”
He added: “We are sleep walking into a situation which cannot be reversed. Whilst we sympathise with the Government’s net zero policy, we think a strategy which will lead to industrialisation of the rural landscape and the loss of valuable food producing capacity is wrong.
“Some of these individual projects like Pear Tree Hill and Mylen Leah will each cover thousands of acres involving a million panels in each. More modest projects like those at Tickton and Molescroft whilst having less impact will be totally overshadowed by these massive projects and collectively will lead to the loss of 20,000 acres of land.”
The developers of the proposed solar farms insist the sites are a positive for the area. Enray Power for example, who are behind the Molescroft proposal, say the proposals would power the equivalent of 23,945 homes and would contribute around £2.5 million in business rates to the council over its planned 40 year lifespan.
Enray have previously responded to some of ERASE’s concerns regarding the Molescroft plans which included a loss of agricultural land. On this Enray said: “The solar farm will be sited on land that Molescroft Farm Estate has found increasingly difficult to farm productively, due to pervasive herbicide-resistant weeds and flooding. Rather than intensifying chemical treatments, which is not in line with the regenerative farming ethos the Estate employ, the solar farm offers a more sustainable use of the land.”
Link to map: https://www.eastriding.gov.uk/planning-permission-and-building-control/energy-developments/
By: Andrew Spence, LDRS
