The Monksfield Solar Farm refusal was covered extensively on BBC Hereford and Worcester this morning. PPLAN representatives Jo and Peter were interviewed near the proposed site yesterday by the BBC’s Gavin Kermack with content played on Tammy Gooding’s breakfast show between 0600 and 1000 today. Gavin also took the time to visit the site itself to appreciate its scale first hand and see how it would block views from footpaths to the Malvern Hills. Click the image below to hear some of the interview.
During the interview, we explained that whilst PPLAN is delighted to have cleared this first hurdle in the planning process, we are of course mindful that RWE may decide to appeal the decision. We went on to explain how harmful the development would be to the Malvern Hills National Landscape and whilst supporting the need for a clean, affordable and secure energy supply, this was not the best way to go about it.
Further, we suggested that supporting domestic farming to ensure a secure food supply would be more appropriate use of taxpayer funds than feeding the profits of corporate energy giants, something that I am sure those farmers protesting in Westminster today would support.
Our initial response to the announcement of MHDC’s planning refusal decision can be found here. Below, we have provided a brief recap on why planning permission was refused and why we believe RWE should cut their losses and walk away rather than appealing the refusal decision.
Recap on why Monksfield Solar Farm was refused.
The main reasons for Malvern Hills District Council (MHDC)’s decision to refuse planning permission were:
- Damage to the setting of the Malvern Hills National Landscape
- Impact on the character of the local landscape and public rights of way
- Impact on the highway network
- Fire risk to residents and the environment
You can review the refusal notice and full planning report on the MHDC planning portal by clicking this link, clicking “Documents”, going to the bottom of the page and viewing items 12 and 11 respectively.
Why RWE should now walk away rather than appeal this planning decision
Each of the refusal reasons contained in MHDC’s report are strong with clear contravention of both local and national planning policies cited. We believe therefore that any appeal is doomed to failure. PPLAN therefore urges RWE to walk away from this planning application without appealing, thereby releasing MHDC planning officers to consider legitimate planning applications and alleviating further stress on local residents who would have been affected by this development.
RWE may also wish to reflect on its exaggeration of the benefits of the scheme and use of misleading statements designed to diguise the harm that the development would cause in its planning application, marketing website and by its publicity representatives*. This approach is potentially damaging not only to its own reputation but also that of the wider renewable energy sector.
PPLAN supports the supply of energy that is clean, affordable and secure
Whilst PPLAN objected to this solar complex, we would like to state that our members are very much in favour of clean, affordable and secure energy. To this end we support rooftop solar, for example, which has the added benefit of reducing consumer bills and thus meets the affordable critera.
The UK has already made great strides in cleaning up its energy consumption. For example, coal now represents just 3% of our energy supply compared to 50% in the 1990s and 90% in 1970. Our energy supply is already clean.
By combining affordable sources such as solar on roofs with the security of gas and nuclear, we can have a clean, affordable, secure and resilient energy supply whilst avoiding over-reliance on any one source causing problems such as those experienced in Spain earlier this year or price fluctuation such as when the Ukraine crisis commenced.
* we can of course substantiate these claims. We have already pointed out several of the errors in their planning application to RWE directly (e.g. the spelling of “Worchester” in the their planning application form and some erroneous mathematical calculations) and would be happy to educate RWE further on the nature of their misleading statements should they wish to clean up their act in future