Landscape Susceptibility in relation to Energy Generation, Storage and Transmission - SPD

Object

Representation ID: 4297

Received: 31/07/2025

Respondent: Topcroft Parish Council

Developers can therefore use the document to justify an application in an area that is considered less sensitive to their proposals

Object

Representation ID: 4298

Received: 31/07/2025

Respondent: Topcroft Parish Council

In general terms Rural River Valley LCAs (e.g. Market Lane, Shotesham and Fairstead Lane, Hempnall) are considered more sensitive to solar PV proposals than plateau farmland LCAs (e.g. the area around Tivetshall / Great Moulton). Therefore the danger for all of us fighting the East Pye proposal in its entirety is that while it may help some parishes to build a case for certain fields to be excluded the developer could seek to replace those lost fields by including extra sites elsewhere.

Object

Representation ID: 4299

Received: 31/07/2025

Respondent: Topcroft Parish Council

The study relates to the following solar photovoltaic schemes: "small scale up to 5MW, medium-field scale up to 15MW, and larger-scale 15to 50MW" i.e. it does not specifically cover NSIPS - however it states that part of the funding for the project: "has enabled the council to commission a study to assess the sensitivities and capacities of the various landscapes of South Norfolk district to accommodate energy-related NSIP and non-NSIP projects." So it does mention a a relevance to NSIP projects

Furthermore it does not specifically say (at any point in the text) that NSIP schemes should be considered unacceptable due to their huge impacts on the South Norfolk landscape.

Object

Representation ID: 4300

Received: 31/07/2025

Respondent: Topcroft Parish Council

The parameters assumed in the study include coverage of the impacts of : "Ground mounted panels up to a maximum of 4m high" (this should be 4.5 metres) and a: "25 year life, followed by full decommissioning and removal of all structures and a return to an agricultural land use or habitat creation typical of the LCA" (East Pye is 40 to 60 years)

Object

Representation ID: 4301

Received: 31/07/2025

Respondent: Topcroft Parish Council

The study also fails to take account of the fact that the threshold for NSIP schemes is increasing from 50mw to 100mw and therefore in the near future it will be LPAs like SNC that will be covering solar PV applications up to 100mw - the sensitivity analysis conducted in this study does not cover the 50mw to 100mw range. The document should not be adopted until this range of potential developments is included.