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.