The proposed giant-sized Meridian Solar development just got bigger.
With the start of the next round of public consultation and release of new documents by Meridian the scheme leapt overnight from 900 hectares to 1,100 (2,700 acres).
And an earlier suggestion by Meridian that some cables could be laid underground for the 12 to 13 kilometres (seven miles) grid connection point at Weston Marsh has been scrapped.
Meridian now declares it will be 36 pylons and overhead cables all the way.
The solar development, with battery storage, will be on farmland between Crowland and Gedney Hill, also affecting parts of Sutton St James, Holbeach Drove, Whaplode Drove, Shepeau Stow, Cowbit, Holbeach St Johns, Whaplode St Catherine, Moulton Chapel, Moulton, Moulton Seas End, Weston Hills and Weston.
More detail, including an eye-opening interactive map indicating land to be used and the pylon locations and route can be found at www.meridiansolarfarm.co.uk
And Compulsory Purchase Order powers could be used to acquire land.
Meridian Action Group is now urging all residents to make their views known at the public consultation events:
* Sutton St Edmund Village Hall, Saturday, May 10, 10.30am-4.30pm
* Snowden Pavilion, Crowland, Wednesday, May 21, 2pm-8pm
* Weston Village Hall, Thursday, May 22, 2pm-8pm.
Hard copies of the consultation information will also be available to view at the following information locations:
* Crowland Library, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9.30am-12.30pm and 2pm-5pm
lSpalding Library, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 9am-5pm, Thursdays, 9am-6pm, and Saturdays, 9am-1pm
* Holbeach Library, Mondays to Fridays, 9am-5pm, Saturdays 9am-1pm
* Tonic Health centres, Spalding and Holbeach, Mondays and Thursdays, 10am-7pm, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, 10am-3pm.
You can also provide feedback by completing an online feedback form at www.meridiansolarfarm.co.uk, completing a hard copy of the feedback form and returning it at one of the events or to FREEPOST DOWNING MERIDIAN (no stamp required) or by emailing your comments to enquiries@meridiansolar.co.uk
Please submit your response by 11.59pm on Sunday, June 8.
One good way to keep up to date with developments is to join Meridian Action Group (MAG) on Facebook.
MAG will attend the public consultation meetings and is planning its own community consultation meetings – dates to be advised.
MAG will be offering help and advice on how to make representation, together with pointers on which to base objections.
MAG will be submitting a full and detailed objection to the proposed solar farm.
MAG spokesman Paul Smith said: “Be in no doubt, without comments from the public, especially those to be most affected, this scheme will steamroller through exactly as proposed. Your comments, views and opinions will only count if you express them now.
“All residents of affected areas should try to attend meetings and familiarise themselves with the plans and ensure their neighbours are aware of these catastrophic proposals for our communities.”
MAG is most concerned that this entire development is in the wrong place, according to net zero minister Ed Miliband.
The whole of the Meridian site is on Best and Most Versatile (BMV) land – the very land that Mr Miliband says should be last choice, not first, after brownfield sites, industrial, contaminated and low-grade agricultural land.
“This land is none of these. Mr Miliband’s statement lends the lie to National Grid’s plan to build a vast, new substation at Weston Marsh, grade 1 land, which is attracting infrastructure such as this onto more high-grade arable land putting future food security at real risk,” said Mr Smith.
Meridian Solar Farm will consist of hundreds of thousands of ground-mounted solar panels, inverters, transformers, switchgear, substation and control buildings, battery storage, fencing and security measures and pylons.
MAG objects to the proposed project for a number of reasons. These include:
* Loss of prime-quality agricultural land, threatening food security. Lincolnshire is key to the country’s food production
* Landscape and visual impact – Lincolnshire is famed for its fen views and big skies. Solar panels and associated infrastructure over 1,100ha (2,700 acres) and 50-metre high pylons over 12 kilometres (seven miles) will have a significant detrimental impact
* Industrialisation of the countryside
* Disturbance from construction activity over a three-year period starting in 2027
* Detrimental impact on local highways
* Adverse effect on local biodiversity.
Applications of this size will not be decided by the local planning authority but by Mr Miliband following a recommendation by the Planning Inspectorate.
If you are not already a member of the Meridian Action Group, join the Facebook group. If you are already a member of MAG, please encourage your contacts to join.
FACTFILE (Latest information available from Meridian Solar)
* 52,000 “strings” of solar panels between 2.9 and 3.5 metres high (9.5 feet to 11.5 feet), mounted on concrete
* 140 inverters 3 metres wide by 2.5 metres high (9.8 feet by 8.2 feet)
* Temporary construction compounds and access tracks
* Permanent access tracks
* Cabling between land parcels
* Transformers throughout the sites, 6 metres long by 3 metres high (19.6 feet by 9.8 feet)
* Switchgear buildings, 60 metres long, 30 metres wide, 15 metres tall (196 feet by 98.4 feet by 49.2 feet)
Meridan Solar Group
