Conservationists are disturbed by plans for a massive solar farm in an area where millions of pounds were recently spent removing electrical pylons that were degrading the landscape.
The planned 1,400-acre site at Chickerell, Dorset, is located in a region of exceptional natural beauty, between Dorchester and the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The carpet of black panels would dramatically alter the ‘beauty and magnificence’ of the landscape as seen from the historic Hardy structure.
The proposal was made by the London-based energy company Statera, which claims that the £300 million wind farm will provide enough electricity to power the adjacent town of Weymouth.
The Dorset Council has declared a ‘climate emergency’ and pledged to make the county carbon neutral by 2040; the program would contribute to this objective.
The proposals, however, have been criticized by locals, rural activists, and the Hardy Society. Threatened landscapes influenced the writings of the Wessex novelist Thomas Hardy.
In a first-of-its-kind plan, £116 million was spent to bury the area’s pylons underground, as opposed to demolishing them.
To replace the 120-foot buildings, over 60 miles of subterranean cables were sunk at a depth of 3 feet.
Conservationists are disturbed by plans for a massive solar farm in an area where millions of pounds were recently spent removing electrical pylons that were degrading the landscape.
The planned location near Chickerell, Dorset, is situated in a region of exceptional natural beauty, between Dorchester and the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Above: aerial view looking north across the Chickerell energy substation, where Statera Energy Limited has submitted a plan.
In a first-of-its-kind plan, £116 million was spent to bury the area’s pylons underground, as opposed to demolishing them. To replace the 120-foot buildings, over 60 miles of 3-foot-deep subterranean cables were buried.
Statera Energy’s concept for the region proposed.
The Dorset County Council has declared a “climate emergency” and pledged that the county will be carbon neutral by 2040; the program would contribute to this objective.
Residents, rural activists, and members of the Hardy Society have criticized the proposals. Threatened landscapes influenced the writings of the Wessex novelist Thomas Hardy. Pictured: A map demonstrates the intended plans
Guy Dickinson, the Dorset representative for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), exclaimed, “I can’t believe it!” in reference to the solar farm project.
This idea is in line with the recent expenditure of millions of pounds to improve the landscape by removing over 20 power pylons and kilometers of wires.
“I cannot fathom how someone could consider it acceptable to construct such a massive solar farm on protected property.
The fact that none of the adjacent houses have solar panels on their roofs, which would be a far superior alternative to this idea, truly angers me.
“This must be halted,”
Tony Fincham, vice president of the Hardy Society, stated, “The Hardy Society would be completely against such a development in an environmentally vulnerable area of Hardy’s Wessex.”
“Chickerell is bordered by the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the north, west, and south, and by the sea, Weymouth (Hardy’s Budmouth), and Portland (Hardy’s Isle of Slingers) to the south-east and east.”
This landscape is fundamental to much of Hardy’s poetry and literature; thus, it must be conserved to protect his literary legacy.
This proposed construction will obstruct the vistas leading to and from the South Dorset Ridgeway.
The neighboring Jurassic Coast is an additional reason why this idea would be completely reckless.
A map of the region where Statera Energy Limited proposes to construct a 1,300-acre solar farm and a 57-acre battery storage facility at Chickerell, Weymouth, Dorset.
The September removal of a utility pole.
To replace the 120-foot buildings, over 60 miles of 3-foot-deep subterranean cables were buried.
“Hopefully, Dorset Council will get its senses and prevent the destruction of our coastline’s beauty, magnificence, and wonder.”
After tens of thousands of pounds have been spent dismantling electrical pylons to restore the surrounding landscape, it is utter foolishness to consider constructing another another solar farm in this location.
Instead of blanketing the countryside with solar panels, the CPRE is encouraging the government to place them on the rooftops of homes across the United Kingdom.
However, a Statera representative stated, ‘There is just not enough roof space, even if it were feasible to put it on all buildings.’
‘It is exceedingly uncommon for solar to be installed on brownfield site, as residential, commercial, and industrial development is always a more desirable and beneficial use for this area.
“By delaying the development of sites like this one, we jeopardize our prospects of attaining the low-carbon future we require and combating climate change.
“There is no doubt that what is being suggested would alter the landscape, but we believe that, on balance, the shift is appropriate and its negative effects can be managed.”
Local farmer and landowner Robert Lasseter is engaged in the Chickerell Solar Farm.
He stated, “We are currently failing to make any money from farming and are hemorrhaging cash.”
Before the epidemic, we were contacted by around twenty energy businesses every week.
This region of land receives the most sunlight in the whole United Kingdom, thus it is a no-brainer to build a solar farm here.
This is a fantastic chance for the United Kingdom to obtain a dependable supply of renewable energy.
Before a planning application for the solar farm is submitted to Dorset Council, there will be a consultation with the public.
View towards Weymouth and Portland from Hardy Monument near Portesham in Dorset across the fields where Statera Energy Limited is seeking permission to construct a massive 1,300-acre solar farm.
Residents, rural activists, and members of the Hardy Society have criticized the proposals. Threatened landscapes influenced the writings of the Wessex novelist Thomas Hardy. Above: A picture of an existing solar farm in close proximity to the intended site.
Thomas Hardy published Wessex Heights in December 1896.
There are certain heights in Wessex that resemble the work of a gentle hand.
For thinking, dreaming, dying, and standing in times of crisis.
Say, on Ingpen Beacon to the east or on Wylls-Neck to the west.
I perceive where I was before my birth and where I may be after my death.
In the lowlands, I have no companion, not even the lone man’s companion –
Her who suffers long and is nice accepts what he cannot repair:
There, everyone are skeptical and wary; no one shares my perspective.
Mind-chains, however, do not clank when one’s nearest neighbor is the sky.
In the cities, I am followed by ghosts with peculiar detective techniques –
Shadows of former entities with whom I shared company:
They loiter in some areas and utter unpleasant, weighty things –
Men with a chilly sneer, and women with sour insults.
There I appear to be untrue to myself, my once-simple self.
And it is not now, and I see him observing, pondering what obscene reason it is.
Can have combined him with such an odd continuation,
Who still shares something with himself, my caterpillar?
I cannot travel to the vast grey Plain because a figure is visible against the moon.
Nobody else can see it, and it causes my heart to race;
I am blocked from entering the town with the lofty spires by the forms that have now expired.
For everyone other than myself, in whose long vision they remain firm.
There is a ghost in Yell’ham Bottom that cackles loudly at dusk.
There is a ghost in Froom-side Vale, thin-lipped and elusive, wrapped in a white cloak.
There is one in the train whenever I do not wish for it to be close.
I can see its profile against the window, saying what I do not wish to hear.
As for one rare, beautiful woman, I am now nothing more than a thought of hers.
I enter her mind and am succeeded by a preferred thought;
Yet, my love for her in its entirety was unknown to her.
Well, as time heals tender hearts, I can now let her go.
Therefore, you can find me on Ingpen Beacon or Wylls-Neck to the west.
Or on quaint Bulbarrow or diminutive Pilsdon Crest.
Where neither men nor women have ever visited, nor have I ever walked with them.
And ghosts then maintain their distance, and I am free.