After a lot of campaigning to ask concerned residents to send their letters to Rosefiled Solar Farm before 11th November 2023, Buckingham News heard about our story and came to visit. We said:
First, we are not against renewable energy. The world obviously needs alternate energy sources.
However, what is happening with the Rosefield solar power station is happening all over the UK. It is a new gold rush. Wealthy individuals, teaming up with big power companies, are trying to monetise British agricultural land, at scale. Anywhere with a connection into the grid and a land-owner looking to make a buck, is seeing solar farms of massive scale – thousands of acres and hundreds of thousands of panels – being drawn up.
These lean heavily on their supposed ‘green’ credentials. However, in reality, they prioritise generating money over renewable energy and, in doing so, ignore a number of key points.
First, they corrode our food security as a nation. This development removes 2,100 acres of high yield farmland from the UK breadbasket for 40 years. A report by the House of Lords just last week said food security in the UK ‘looks bleak’. Global supply chains of staple crops such as wheat and rapeseed have never been more frayed – and yet we deem it necessary to bury thousands of acres of prime British farmland under glass and steel for nearly half a century – increasing our reliance on imports.
If solar needs to be a part of the mix, why choose to put the panels on farmland and not on roofs, or on existing industrial sites? It’s like saying West London needs more homes and bulldozing Buckingham Palace – rather than regenerating Battersea power station. There are more appropriate locations, surely?
This is not to mention the fact that solar is actually proven to be only 11% effective by the University of Sheffield, and not 22% as is quoted by many solar companies.
These are what we see as rational, straightforward arguments against the kind of opportunistic plan EDF and the Claydon Estate is proposing here with Rosefield – but is also happening all over the UK. We have to be careful talking about the destruction of our village and the surrounding rural habitat, for fear of sounding like nimbies. The impact on the local community and wildlife would undoubtedly be significant but, most annoyingly, it could all be avoided by simply putting solar panels in more appropriate areas. Why choose between food and energy security when you can have both?
Claydon Solar Action Group