How Can You Help Right Now?

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East Suffolk Council make it clear it is not the number of comments necessarily , but the content and relevance of the comments received that is considered in the determination of the application. However, we still need  you to write or email them, just make sure you point out that the things they are concerned about as planners, concern you too. 

They stress on their planning application process page that  applications are determined on the basis of planning policy and material planning considerations.

Whilst this site will help you understand more about planning policy and what could be material planning considerations there is no substitute for reading the original East Suffolk documents. 

The National Policy on renewable energy states that:"... in shaping local criteria for inclusion in Local Plans and considering planning applications..., it is important to be clear that...":

• the need for renewable or low carbon energy does not automatically override environmental protections;
• cumulative impacts require particular attention, especially the increasing impact that wind turbines and large scale solar farms can have on landscape and local amenity as the number of turbines and solar arrays in an area increases;
• local topography is an important factor in assessing whether wind turbines and large scale solar farms could have a damaging effect on landscape and recognise that the impact can be as great in predominately flat landscapes as in hilly or mountainous areas;
• great care should be taken to ensure heritage assets are conserved in a manner appropriate to their significance, including the impact of proposals on views important to their setting;
• proposals in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and in areas close to them where there could be an adverse impact on the protected area, will need careful consideration;
• protecting local amenity is an important consideration which should be given proper weight in planning decisions.

Turning This Into Language We All Understand

There's a lot of planning language here so let's try and simplify it.

Cumulative Impacts

NPPF says: cumulative impacts result from the successive, incremental, and/or combined effects of an action, project, or activity (collectively referred. to as “developments”) when added to those already existing, planned, and/or. reasonably anticipated in the future.  

It means: Planners want to understand how other existing and future developments, like this one at Shipmeadow & Ilketshall, combine to create a far bigger impact than any would on their own. We already know that wind turbines have been approved for a site in Barsham. It cannot be acceptable that this beautiful area can be blighted by the cumulative impact of both wind turbines and a solar farm. What do you think? Let the planners know about how you feel about one thing after another impacting the landscape that you live in. 

Topography

Regarding local topography, we know that some of the solar farm sits on a slope that faces Mill Road in Ilketshall St Andrew. What sort of glint and glare will affect people who live on or use Mill Road? There is a bench on Blacksmith's Common which will look directly at 70 acres of solar panels! Is this what Suffolk Wildlife Trust envisaged when the bench was placed there? Is this really what the Land Management Committee for the Commons want the people who would sit on it to experience? Is this what you want to experience? The Common is a County Wildlife Site and the solar farm will have a negative impact on the amenity of the Common. The same is true of Shipmeadow Common. Instead of having a stroll or a picnic in a setting with glorious views of gently rolling Suffolk landscape and The Viewpoint, people visiting the Common in the future will be able to see the fronts of massive solar arrays towering above them. Is this really what the Common is intended to be, a place set in the middle of an industrialised landscape with solar panels jammed onto every south facing slope ?  . Similarly, The Great Common and Mill Common will all be able to see the monstrous 300 acre vista of solar farm panels. What do you think? When the time comes please let the planners know why you find this objectionable

And what about the Quiet Lanes around the development? Construction traffic will mean they don't remain quiet for long once the build starts. Do you enjoy running, walking, cycling or horse riding around the Quiet Lanes? If so, what do you think about how those walks and runs are going to be spoiled and disrupted? What do you think the impacts on your road safety will be?  This is is what the planners take an interest in, so tell them how you feel.

Heritage Assets

 A heritage asset is a building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, because of its heritage interest. This would include ancient monuments like Mettingham Castle, the Motte and Bailey castle just 400 metres away from the development and the numerous listed buildings that surround it and can be seen from it. For example, St Andrews Church, Shipmeadow Church, Mettingham Hall and many Grade 2 listed buildings In Barsham, Mettingham, Ilketshall St Andrew, Ilketshall St John,and Shipmeadow. Let's not forget the County Wildlife Sites represented by the Commons.

Policy SCLP9.1: Low Carbon & Renewable Energy from East Suffolk Council states The Council will support Neighbourhood Plans in identifying suitable areas for renewable and low carbon energy development, particularly where they relate to developments that are community-led. 

In identifying suitable areas, consideration should be given to the criteria listed below:  

a) They can evidence a sustainable and, ideally, local source of fuel;  

b) They can facilitate the necessary infrastructure and power connections required for functional purposes; and 

c) They are complementary to the existing environment without causing any significant adverse impacts, particularly relating to the residential amenity, landscape and visual impact, the natural beauty and special qualities of the AONB, transport, flora and fauna, noise and air quality, unless those impacts can be appropriately mitigated. 

The Council will support low carbon and renewable energy developments, with the exception of wind energy schemes, where they are within an area identified as suitable for renewable or low carbon energy or satisfy the above criteria. Wind energy schemes must be located in an area identified as suitable for renewable or low carbon energy in a Neighbourhood Plan. When the technology is no longer operational there is a requirement to decommission, remove the facility and complete a restoration of the site to its original condition

So with this in mind, what significant adverse impacts will the proposal from RES have on your enjoyment of the area? What changes to the landscape and setting will you experience and how will those changes harm your views of the natural beauty and peace and quiet. experience What about the noise of the construction and the inverters? Where do you go to enjoy the view and the peace and quiet? What do you like to see and hear when you walk, cycle and drive by and through the landscape? How will it change for you and how do you feel about it? 

In 2016 the Great Yarmouth Borough Council and Waveney District Council received a report they had commissioned in preparation for their respective new Local Plans. It was intended to help the Councils make informed decisions about the suitability of land around settlements for allocation as development sites and as a tool to help inform decision-making on planning applications, as well as for identifying opportunities for the enhancement, protection, management and conservation of landscape areas close to settlements. 

You can read the full report here:  https://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/assets/Planning/Waveney-Local-Plan/First-Draft-Local-Plan/Settlement-Fringe-Landscape-Sensitivity-Study.pdf

Some of the key points raised are:

• Landform is that of an elevated, gently undulating plateau... minor tributary valleys fall away from the edges of the plateau; 
• An agricultural landscape encompassing small areas of common land, pasture and rough grazing, but now largely under arable cultivation; 
• A good field boundary pattern is defined by early (pre 18th Century) co axial Enclosure field boundaries, creating a landscape structure of rectilinear form and small to medium scale; 
• Mixed native hedgerows of variable density are reinforced by mature hedgerow oaks. Blocks of deciduous farm woodland (often ancient woodland) provide variation in the landscape structure; 
• The density of hedgerows and the areas of farm woodland create a landscape of relatively contained scale and views;
• Principal elements of the cultural landscape include areas of unenclosed common land which form settlement foci, and a number of moated sites; 
• The plateau has a settled character with dispersed or very compact linear hamlets focussed on common lands e.g. Ilketshall St Andrew. 
• Settlements are linked by a network of narrow rural lanes; 
• Local vernacular is defined by traditional red brick and pantile dwellings and flint churches. Oxblood colour washed render is also apparent; 
• Church towers including round towers form foci for settlements e.g. at Ilketshall St Andrew and Ilketshall St Margaret, and are prominent skyline elements; 
• A landscape with a distinct historic character and pattern, which creates a textured, mosaic character at points. The co axial field pattern creates a relatively intimate spatial scale in an arable landscape;
• Evidence of recreational access is provided by the common lands and a network of rights of way which traverses the area.  
• Key strategic objectives are to conserve and enhance the relatively small scale landscape structure and associated historic landscape character.  Settlement is small in scale and of a dispersed rural character, and should be conserved, in order to retain the tranquil character of the area.

If it sounds idyllic, it is because it is. It's a very beautiful landscape and RES want to install 300 acres of solar panels on it. Help the planners appreciate just what a special landscape this is and help them understand why the RES proposal will ruin it for generations.

Right now all that is available from RES is on this site:

www.shipmeadow-solarfarm.com.

Not much really, for something that is going to have a massive impact on the community.