November 18, 2012
A Variety of Views on the Impact of the Garleys Wood Solar Park
Much earlier today I dropped Kasia off at Bristol Airport, en route to Warsaw. As I was walking back to the car park, it suddenly struck me that I'd had a request for advice concerning the planning application for a large scale solar PV park near Bristol Airport. Since it was a beautifully crisp clear morning, and I had my smartphone on me, I thought I'd take a short detour on my way back to Devon, and take a few pictures of the site in question. I fired up my very own map of the area on my phone, and zoomed in. That revealed a public footpath across the site, so I wandered off along that in the direction of Garleys Wood, snapping as I went.
When I got back I gingerly knocked on a couple of doors. It was rather earlier on a Sunday morning! As luck would have it I soon found myself talking to Kelvin Ogborne, the self same man who had asked me for my online advice a few weeks earlier! His dog was in need of a brisk walk so we set off all together, taking a rather longer route along the very same footpath.
Here are some of the images I found in my phone by the time I got home to my trusty laptop:
Does that look like a good location for tens of thousands of solar panels to you? If I were to point out that it's inside the so-called "green belt" around Bristol, would that change your mind?
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Comments on A Variety of Views on the Impact of the Garleys Wood Solar Park »
NO green belt site is a good site for solar panels, they should be confined to areas that people and wildlife do not need ie Roofs, lamp-post tops, etc
We too are having this battle in Derbyshire, feel free to contact us and share information
http://www.facebook.com/supportourstruggle
Hi Sylvia,
Have you checked out the first link above? If so, what did you make of it?
What did you make of the second link, come to that?
Here's my photographic record of the age old Devon country pursuit of shooting sheep!
Jim
Jim,
I'm a local Teignbridge person who likes to know what is going on and sadly only sickness has allowed the time to check this item out.
What sort of things can you use to object to the application?
Have you legal help/advice for the objection?
Do you have a team to object and what sort of moves /tactics are you likely to take.
My problem with all this solar stuff is sadly the funding comes directly out of our pockets as consumers and goes into directors pockets – roofs and walls fine…fields no! However I'm new to what objections have a chance of winning.
Best wishes.
Hi Bill,
This particular site is near Bristol Airport. If it's the Teignbridge ones you're particularly interested in then click this link.
The most advanced in this neck of the woods is the one at Tedburn. I'll be spending 5 mins on Monday giving Teignbridge council a piece of my mind for the second time!
To get an overview of what's happening across the South West take a look at our map, then click on the links that interest you. You can read all the documentation, objections etc. on the various council web sites. If you don't like the sound of a proposal, make sure to send in your objection to the council before the "publicity expiry date" if you can, although paperwork received right up until the ultimate decision is made is supposed to be read and taken account of.
I hope that's some help,
Jim
The application to construct the Garleys Wood Solar Park has now been refused by North Somerset District Council.
According to their decision notice, this is on the grounds of:
Hi jim…yes indeed the proposed garleys wood eye sore was turned down by both parish and local county council…could you tell me how the 6 month appeal works..does the proposed applicant ie Wessex solar have 6 months to appeal from the day it was refused? Or from a different date?..we are a little unsure on this and getting clarification from North Somerset county council is like banging your head against a brick wall.. Gets you nowhere and leaves you with a big headache..It has now been 6 months and a few days since the refusal was posted on north somersets website so we are trying to clear this matter up……Hope you are well and please feel free to drop by if you are ever in the area….ps…next time you decide to take my pic ill be sure to have a haircut and put by Sunday wellies on.:).. Lol….kelvin
Hi Kelvin,
I'll try and give you a bit more notice next time!
According to the Planning Inspectorate guidance on such matters:
The decision notice is dated December 10th, so it does indeed seem as though the developer's time is up in this case.
Well we'll well..looks like I spoke to soon.an appeal was lodged the very day I sent the last email to you… So here we go again…not only an appeal but also another application to erect 3 poles and wiring to supply the proposed solar monstrosity..so some questions for you..
1..do you no of any solar parks that have been refused on appeal.
2.i have submitted my objection on the planning inspectorate website and asked that they visit my and surrounding properties personally.anything else I should say?
3.any other advise you can give me?
4. The number of a good hit man..:)
Many thanks again
All par for the course I'm afraid Kelvin. From the documentation it looks like the Garley's Wood appeal was lodged on April 26th, and accepted on June 4th. How come you've only just heard about it?
1. Yes – I've already given Teignbridge District Council my views on the "Fulford Solar Kettle" twice, and they've rejected it twice. The Planning Inspectorate rejected the first appeal too. It's now nearing the end of the second appeal process. Note that I got a letter from the council telling me that appeal had been lodged.
2. The trouble is that (in my experience at least) you don't get to see all the documentation produced in support of the appeal until it's too late to comment on it. If there are any relevant planning points that haven't already been drawn to the Inspector's attention yet then by all means do so now. That's a bit tricky to do though, especially when you haven't had a chance to read all the arguments of the developer yet.
3. Persevere.
4. I don't know any I'm afraid.
Many thanks again jim…
Would there be any way that you could or would be able to put in an objection to this solar park?
Or even just write something to make both parties look at things from a different prospective?
No problem if you can't,as I no you are very busy.
Once again thanks …
Some news just in Kelvin. You may wish to read my latest blog post, and then write to your own MP.
I've also discovered that North Somerset are currently inviting comments on their draft "Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Generation in North Somerset Supplementary Planning" document. You may wish to email them before July 12th also, mentioning the (currently only draft) NSC guidance.