Please address your letter of support for the Mably Solar Farm Proposal.
Planning Number:- Ref; PA15/05327
You can use any of the suggested reasons as they are or put them in
your own words, using as many or as few as you like. If you would like
to add a few of your own that would be also helpful.
Please address your letter to:Mr. Ellis Crompton-Brown
Planning Officer
Planning and Enterprise Service
Cornwall Council
Circuit House
Pydar Street
TR1 1ES
If you would prefer to log them direct onto the council planning website
please follow the link below;
https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/register/?returnUrl=/login/#form
Once you have completed the form and created your account you can
access the Mably solar application number PA15/05327 and leave your
comments.
Menu of reasons for support for Mably Solar
proposal
Renewable energy as a preferential energy source:
 Reducing impacts on climate: electricity from solar means electricity
without a need to burn fossil fuels contributing to global climatic change.

Reducing local impacts: other forms of generating electricity have
huge impacts on traffic, air quality and the landscape. Surely a
distributed generation network, without these impacts is preferable?

Acceptable change in the landscape: many people dislike the change
in the countryside brought about by being able to see solar farms. These
people don’t seem notice the pylons delivering electricity to them, or at
least see them as acceptable. In future surely solar farms will be viewed
in the same way, where through familiarity become invisible, or at least,
unremarkable. Do these same people not use motorways, which have
none of the environmental benefits of solar farm, but are seen as
necessary.

Price: despite current negative press around the cost of solar PV
developments this solar farm, were it to become operational, would be
cheaper than nuclear. As Feed In Tariffs shrink, the total price per MW
will be lower than the £91/MWh agreed for the new nuclear power
station.
Need for renewable energy:
 Energy security: our list of energy trading partners runs like a roll call
of geo-political trouble-spots. These nations are often unpredictable, and
could turn off energy supply at any time. Surely it would be better to
control as much of our energy supply as possible domestically? Some
people would propose fracking, but surely it is better to get as much
energy as possible from renewables, before exploring that as a last
resort. Would these people support fracking in Cornwall?

Energy cost: these nations mentioned above control the price we pay.
With renewables, these costs are fixed domestically. As the cost of
extracting fossil fuels rises over the medium and long term, that external
(i.e. not driven by the UK economy) cost will pressurise the cost of living
of "hard-working families" far more than small than the cost of support to
renewables adds to energy bills, which currently amount to pence per
month in most cases.

Land-owner financial sustainability: renewables developments in
many cases help support struggling small farmers. Without these, these
farms would agglomerate to become industrial mega-farms. In solar
farms are considered an eye-sore, the infrastructure associated with
these will be much more so. Fields will be combined to much larger units,
changing the face of the landscape irrevocably as I believe most of those
opposed to renewables developments would agree.

Legally binding government targets for renewable generation. The
government has legally binding targets and is already behind the
required progress. Small-scale developments such as this provide key
building blocks to un-obtrusively build generation capacity.
This is the right place:
 Brownfield sites: All parts of the UK need to contribute to producing as
well as consuming electricity. Cornwall is unusual in that many
brownfield sites are protected because of their history as mining sites.
This makes them unsuitable for solar development. Where this is not the
case, there is often a legacy of contamination on the land making solar
installation tricky.

Rooftop: This is not the panacea it is often portrayed as. There is a
limited amount of south facing roof-space in Cornwall, and often its use
for solar is limited by owner/tenant conflicts, difficulties with metering,
and limitations in the structural strength of the roof. To meet targets and
take meaningful steps to decarbonizing UK energy, ground-mounted
solar will need to be part of the mix.

Best and most versatile agricultural land: it is often cited that solar
farms shouldn’t be constructed on high grade agricultural land. Such
concerns are rarely, if ever raised, regarding housing. While it is
acknowledged that we have a housing crisis, we also have a potential
energy crisis and this site would not in any case be considered suitable
for housing. Furthermore, this proposal is temporary and could be
removed quickly if there were to be critical food shortages. During its
operation the land will not be damaged, and under most types of
management will actually be to an extent restored.
It is also worth noting that daffodil farming is widespread locally and
around Cornwall, which does not provide a useful food product, and
surely, on the basis of the objections to renewable energy, should be
restricted.

Landscape: this solar farm would be able to be seen from only limited
viewpoints and not from important footpaths or beauty spots. From
Godolphin Hill it appears only as part of the patchwork, no more
obtrusive than a field of daffodils or some polytunnels.
The proposal is also not visible from key tourist attractions or major
tourist routes into Cornwall, avoiding any impact on such a key source
of revenue to the area.

Heritage: this proposal does not damage the World Heritage Site, which
is mainly a WHS because of mining features.
This is a well-designed site:
Too many solar sites in Cornwall are poorly and thoughtlessly designed and
operated. This site bucks that trend and the plans demonstrate exemplary
consideration for the environment and the community.

Ecology: this site has been designed to improve the local ecology. The
current arable land-use mainly draws on ecological resources to provide
food. This solar farm will pay back into the ecological balance by
providing habitats for bees (if we have housing crisis and an energy
crisis, we certainly have a bee crisis) which are essential to sustain
agricultural productivity, as well as birds and bats and their food sources.

Community: the panels will be positioned so as not to be too close to
the neighbouring houses. The new hedging will help obscure the view
and so these panels will be largely hidden from the properties.
It is also welcome that there will be a share offer associated with the
solar farm, as it allows ordinary people without large sums of money to
invest in their own schemes to access a return on their investment above
poor savings accounts rates, and contribute to something positive.

Footpath network: the solar farm will also help the local footpath
network. There is currently no way from the eastern edge to the site to
Bunkers Hill, creating a break in the footpath link. The solar farm includes
a footpath link around the solar panels to Bunkers Hill. This will remove
a dead end in the footpath network and enable better footpath access
between Leedstown and St Erth Praze.