One of the joys of Newmarket is that it’s a unique town, in many ways. It means that as the MP for Newmarket, as with my predecessors over the years, I’ve had to fight to make sure its unique status is recognised. This takes many forms. The latest is the battle to ensure that the countryside to the east of town is not permanently blighted by a huge energy farm.
Having been a minister at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, I know that renewable energy is a crucial part of the solution to combat climate change and transition to a sustainable future. As such, it's essential to embrace and promote the development of renewable energy projects such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. However, while I'm in favour of renewable energy projects, the Sunnica proposal, at 2,700 acres and with minimal consultation, I believe that concerns over safety, environment, and decommissioning have not been adequately answered.
This is not about a solar farm this is about an industrial battery storage facility with a solar farm attached. The capacity of the battery storage is much greater than the electricity generation of the solar farm, demonstrating that the primary purpose of this proposal is a battery farm in the middle of rural Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, which should instead be located in an industrial site if it is necessary. It is completely unacceptable to be developing on good farmland when brownfield land exists.
Another concern I have is for the safety of local residents. Battery farms of this scale are dangerous – there have been 38 fires in the last three years that we know of, and this proposed battery farm is upwind of major settlements, including Red Lodge, which is a growing village less than a mile away from the proposed Sunnica project. This is an irrational choice to site batteries so near a large residential area.
There has been a woeful lack of consultation, including a complete failure by the applicant to engage in determining the quality of the land and the hiding of an industrial-scale battery farm under the headline of a solar farm, and the fundamental change of character to this local area. This shows a complete unwillingness to work in collaboration or in the best interests of the local communities this proposal will impact.
So, working with the local council and many local groups, we’ve taken the fight to the developers. Ultimately, I strongly disagree with the proposal as it is today, and I am not satisfied that the livelihoods of the people I represent have been taken into account to an acceptable level. I have been working closely with Say No to Sunnica and Lucy Frazer MP for East Cambridgeshire; with me and Lucy writing multiple times to Sunnica and the planning directorate to highlight local concerns and the lack of consultation. I will of course continue working with my constituents to ensure that our views are heard.
Politics
