Residents hit out at solar farm plans at public enquiry

On the first day of the public inquiry into Kronos Solar’s plan for a 185-acre solar farm in fields between Alfreton and Oakerthorpe, local residents were encouraged to give their views.

Julia Williams, who lives close to the site, said she runs a connections company which has been employed by Kronos to assess its solar farm proposals, saying it is a ‘misconception’ solar schemes do not create jobs.

She said the 50 megawatt proposal is the current average size of solar farm schemes being planned and approved in the UK, saying much larger schemes are currently in the pipeline, ranging from 80-300mw.

Ms Williams said the UK needs solar farms to be able to provide for its own energy needs.

Claire Price-Dowd told the inquiry she moved to a house close to the site ‘for the open space’.

She said: “Rather than against renewable energy we should be doing the right thing right, not this. Our community, our town, will become that place you drive through on your way to somewhere else.”

Ms Price-Dowd said tourists and visitors would stop coming to Alfreton and the surrounding area as a result of the proposals and said solar panels should be installed on industrial unit rooftops in the borough.

Devastated

Laura Brown, who moved to Oakerthorpe, to the west of the site, four years ago, cried when giving her evidence to the inquiry.

Speaking between sobs, she said: “We moved to the village to bring up our daughters in a place where you can open up the front door and walk into the countryside.

“The footpaths were important in the pandemic, when we were expecting our second daughter. It made all the difference in difficult times when we couldn’t see relatives.

“It devastates me that this could be ruined. We thrive so much by being in nature and this won’t be possible when walking through miles of fences.

“Being here for 40 years is not a temporary thing.”

She said the rural area was ‘under threat’ and there would be no direct benefit to the local community, particularly those in homes most affected by the scheme.

Coun Paul Jackson, of South Wingfield Parish Council, spoke on behalf of Valerie Thorpe, an Amber Valley councillor who died in September.

He read out her statement to the borough council from last December’s planning meeting, in which she said: “During my 24 years on this council I cannot recall a planning application that is more out of keeping with the area.

“When I first heard of the scale and location of this proposal I thought it was monstrous.”

She said ‘green energy cannot come at any cost’ and people living around the site would be ‘surrounded by solar panels as far as the eyes can see’.

She said the plans would be ‘catastrophic for students and staff at the special school’, people would overlook the ‘industrialised’ Amber Valley and head straight to the Peak District and the ‘last green space accessible from Alfreton would become a fenced-in tunnel’.

Health and wellbeing

Liz Scott, of Shirland, said her holiday cottage and equestrian businesses sit on the edge of the site, overlooking what would be scores of solar panels.

She said: “We have spent eight years working to develop businesses and our home and I believe this scheme will have a detrimental impact on the business and our children’s health and wellbeing.

Ms Scott said the development would deter visitors from what is a ‘world-class destination’, with visitors spending £169 per person, per night and the site must be ‘preserved for future generations’.

She said jobs would be at risk if the scheme is approved, saying ‘it is essential the visitor economy is nurtured’ and the proposal risked ruining what is an ‘oasis of calm’.

Ms Scott said her equestrian business requires seclusion and peace and quiet, training ‘highly strung competition horses’, who would be affected by noise and ‘dazzling’ glare from the scheme which risked making the fields ‘unviable’.

She said this would ‘jeopardise the health and safety of the animals and riders’.

Celina Colquhoun, barrister for developers Kronos, said Ms Scott’s ‘noise fears are not substantiated’.

Martin Harrison, who moved to the area four years ago, said the developer appeared to have a ‘cavalier’ approach, saying the scheme was ‘inappropriate in scale’.

The six-day inquiry, held at the Post Mill Centre in South Normanton, is being overseen by planning inspector Paul Jackson.

It sees Amber Valley Council against Kronos Solar, with opposition groups also providing a defence against the plans, including campaign group Save Alfreton Countryside, Alfreton Town Council, South Wingfield Parish Council and charity Campaign for the Protection of Rural England Derbyshire.

The borough council rejected the plans last December, feeling its scale and impact on the landscape were too significant to outweigh its environmental benefits.

The 50mw scheme would be capable of generating enough renewable electricity to power 11,500 homes, three times the number of households in Alfreton.

The inquiry runs from October 18-21 and November 1-2, after which a decision will be made by Mr Jackson, with an aim to do so by November 25.

Members of the public can attend the inquiry in person, with each session starting from 10am and can also access the hearings online, through a request to the borough council.