Local Wildlife Sites
The Cole End application mentions SSSIs – there are none within miles of the development site but it does not mention that there are several Local Wildlife Sites none of which are listed. UDC is supposed to take into account when considering an application that may affect them.
This website gives full details of all Wimbish LoWS: Wimbish Local Wildlife Sites
Number |
Site name |
Area |
8.9 ha |
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1.5 ha |
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3500 m |
Click the name or number of the LoWS that are in the table on the left.
These are the sites closest to the proposed solar farm.
These not mentioned in the Cole End document (or potential damage to them by the proposed development).
A full list of Wimbish TPOs is availabe at:
https://wimbish.org.uk/tree-preservation-orders-in-wimbish/
All listed trees in or close to the solar farm site should be identified and inspected for condition
BNG – Biodiversity Net Gain
This new policy requires major developers to ensure that new, biodiversity improve, land exceeds the area with loss of diversity caused by the development. This appears not to have happened for the Cole End Solar Farm
It is claimed:
The development includes proposals for landscape, legacy woodland planting and nature conservation enhancement. The proposals would present considerable opportunity for landscape and biodiversity mitigation and enhancement by providing habitat and landscape enhancements though new planting and the creation of extensive grassland areas to replace arable land and species diverse wildflower meadow grassland.
Will these be onsite (and behind the security fences)?
What happens when the Solar Farm wears out?
Solar farms are generally designed to last for a period of 25 to 30 years, with their operational life span often determined by the life span of the solar panels themselves. While individual solar panels may continue to produce electricity at a reduced rate after this period, the overall efficiency of the farm can decline, leading to decommissioning or repowering of the project.
If the company managing the solar farm becomes insolvent, presumably the life span would be much less. In either case, the landowner will receive a brown field site of unusable solar panels the most obvious use for the land will be for housing development even though the developers claim they will return the site to its original state as farmland.
Sheep Grazing
Grazing solar farms, also known as agrivoltaics, combine solar energy generation with agricultural practices, most commonly sheep grazing. This approach allows land to be used for both electricity production and livestock management, offering several benefits.
"Sheep act as natural lawnmowers, reducing the need for mechanical or chemical vegetation control, which can be costly and environmentally harmful."
That's the kind of statement the proponents of Wimbish Solar Farm make. In their publicity leaflet they claim that grazing will produce biodiversity gain on the land covered by solar panels. It is true tat in those areas of Britain with many sheep farms a farmer can add the solar panel land to his own land and make a profit from his combined flock.
In the east of Essex, like Wimbish, practically all farm land is arable and sheep farmers are mostly small scale "hobby farmers". So the main problem with grazing a local solar farm is getting a suitably skilled sheep worker willing to do the job.
For a farm of 60 hectares the flock size would be about 240 head including about 140 lambs fattening for slaughter. The wholesale price per lamb for slaughter ia unlikely to be over £50. Thus the income would be £7000 and expenses would include vets fees, winter feed, and the cost of travel if the shepherd lives at any distance from the solar farm. This renders a sheep farm under an East Anglian solar farm a non-starter
economically unless it is subsidised by the company that manages the solar farm (they then avoid the costs of mowing and pesticide the grassland).
Electricity from Straw
Straw…it's more than just the leftover from wheat harvest. This agricultural byproduct has a huge number of uses. While some are quite traditional like the bedding for animals and mulch in the garden, it can also be used as a quality cattle forage, heating fuel, ethanol production, or even as a building material.
A typical cereal crop produces 5 tons of straw per year.
In a straw powered generating plant 200000 tonne of straw produces 270 Gigawatts of electricity, enough for 80,000 homes. That's the straw from 40000 ha of farmed countryside (400 sq km of straw producing crops). That's the cereal farmland within about 15 km of Saffron Walden which would find a good market for straw as well as retaining full food production).
Cole End Solar Farm produces energy for 9000 homes on 55 ha, so 80000 homes would need 484 ha of farm land destroyed.
The other big advantage of using straw is:
By controlling when the straw is burnt, the electricity can be produced when it is needed - winter and night time. Solar produces nothing by night and less than a third of the summer amount by winter day. Solar power ca be stored short term in massively expensive lithium batteries but not long term summer production for winter.
The main power source for solar is light falling on solar panes: thes are very expensive and imported mainly from China.
With straw the raw material, the construction of a straw powered furnace like that at Ely uses mainly British workmen and material.
A typical straw-fired power plant can produce roughly 0.13 to 0.16 megawattsof electricity from one ton of straw.
Elean Power Station, located near Ely, Cambridgeshire, is the world's largest straw-fired power station. It generates 38 MW of electricity by burning straw to produce steam, which drives turbines. The plant was developed by EPR Ely, a partnership between Energy Power resources and Cinergy Global Power.
The plant produces 270 GWh of electricity annually, enough to power around 80,000 homes.
It consumes around 200,000 tonnes of biomass annually.
Endangered Species
The Scarlet Malachite Beetle Malachius aeneus is one of Britain's rarest insects. One of the most importsnt of the colonies in Britan, adjacent to Pasonage Farm, will be damaged by the construction of the entry buildings at Parsonage Farm. Once known from only 8 locations in the UK. . In recent years the species has undergone a considerable range contraction and has been listed on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP). |
Photo by Dr Chris Gibson by permission from Essex Field Club |
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Residents' Property
Almost everyone in Wimbish will suffer losses from the construction of the Solar Farm: loss of the enjoyment of the countryside on ancient paths and bridleways, extra traffic on the road and absolutely no financial or employment gain as the solar farm will operate without any staff on site.
The only resident with any financial gain will be the local farmer and millionaire land owner who will get about £150,000 per year for the duration of the life of the solar farm.
The main financial losers will be the owners of two highly valued houses at Parsonage Farm who can expect to lose a very large part of the value of their houses.
Footpaths
It is claimed that these will be unaffected but the new application appears likely to destroy Adcocks Lane – an ancient green lane and at present a wide footpath with hedges containing many mature trees.
The road to Parsonage Farm, a private road which is also a public footpath, will become the access road to the Wimbish site and be a main road rather than a quiet public footpath
This web site is an interactive map of all Wimbish rights of way: Wimbish rights of way