A controversial map which showed 30 potential locations for solar farms and 10 wind turbines in the parishes of Batheaston and St Catherine has sparked alarm and anger.
Land around Batheaston | Photo © Colin Peachey / Shutterstock.com
More than 100 people attended a meeting at St John’s Church in Batheaston on Thursday 5th March, organised by a group of concerned residents.
The ‘Energy in Your Community’ project is part of the Community Energy Network, a partnership supported by Bath & North East Somerset Council, Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE), the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) and the University of Bath.
The aim is to support 5MW of community-owned renewable generation across the district by 2030.
Batheaston Parish Council registered last July. As part of a Lottery-funded project, BWCE, working with CSE, is evaluating potential sites for large community-owned solar farms and wind turbines, including in St Catherine’s Valley and Charmy Down.
A workshop was run last month by CSE. It had been promoted online and was open to anyone, saying: “Together we’ll explore realistic scenarios for renewable energy in Batheaston and St Catherine, and the possible benefits of community ownership.”
At the workshop, which was attended by 35 people, the list of 30 solar farms and 10 wind turbines was reduced to 19 and seven respectively as a result of discussions. Among the circles on the map was one for a wind turbine halfway up Solsbury Hill.
The meeting at the church in Batheaston
Missing from the map were key details – including that the area is in the Cotswolds National Landscape and Green Belt, as well as inside the Bath World Heritage Site. Also missing was the Charmy Down site of geological significance, topography, nature conservation areas, notable landmarks including Solsbury Hill, and the water source protection zone.
Representatives from not-for-profit community energy business BWCE were at last Thursday’s meeting as were councillors Kevin Guy and Sarah Warren (Bathavon North, Liberal Democrat), who are the leader and deputy leader of B&NES Council respectively. Councillor Warren is also the cabinet member for Sustainable Bath & North East Somerset.
Jackie Clayton, head of place shaping at B&NES Council, attended as did some Batheaston parish councillors. There was no one from CSE.
Among those who spoke at the meeting was local resident Martin Veal, who was a B&NES cabinet member under the previous Conservative administration.
He said the proposals were not responsible and could potentially persuade ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites), to remove Bath’s heritage designations “especially as it would blight the major routeway into our World Heritage City”.
He said that financially landowners and BWCE would benefit, but households “very, very little”. He said that however the political initiative behind it would.
Mr Veal said there were 1,500 people in Batheaston and only 35 had attended the workshop. Taking in the nearby communities of Bathford, Bathampton, Larkhall, Woolley, Swainswick and Bathampton, thousands more would be affected.
“This is an attempt at a consultation but is a manipulated sham, in my opinion. It has been conducted in a clandestine manner with a hidden political agenda.”
Sara Grimes, director of community business development and incoming deputy managing director of BWCE, told the meeting: “Looking at that map now, oh my goodness, that map just looks absolutely horrendous with those circles on. I would have freaked out as well.”
She said “clearly this hasn’t landed well”, but it had been intended as a way of getting more democracy into the process.
“The reasons we didn’t put all those designations up there is because we wanted the starting point of the conversation to actually be what local people value about this area – those layers will come on through the planning process.”
Councillor Kevin Guy speaking at the meeting
Councillor Guy told the meeting: “It was very, very useful listening to everything that’s been said. I think from my perspective it was quite clear that this organisation has probably got the best of intentions but has clearly gone about it in the wrong way.”
To applause, he added: “There are no plans I can reassure you to build any solar farms or wind turbines in the valley if the residents of Bath & North East Somerset in your area, in our area, don’t want them.”
Jackie Clayton explained: “We have managed to get Lottery funding to support us to work with communities who are interested in renewable projects about what is possible.”
She said the council would be working over three years with six communities across B&NES who had made expressions of interest. Lottery funding is paying BWCE and CSE to act as advisers into the process.
Ms Clayton stressed that “BWCE are not coming here with a scheme that they want to deliver”.
She admitted there are things to “reflect on” from the process, adding: “This is about listening to what people want, what’s possible and I think if it is not appropriate and not supported by the community, then it won’t move forward.”
This was applauded and there was an overwhelming show of hands, indicating that this type of development was not appropriate.
Local resident and architect Helen Harker, who was one of the organisers of the meeting, called the process “juvenile” and “incredibly insulting”.
She said: “To take 35 people from our village and sit them down with a promise of a nice supper or lunch or whatever it was and to stick some Post-It notes on a very poorly-drawn map, I find insulting.”
Another of the meeting’s organisers asked: “If it wasn’t a consultation, why put specific sites on a map and get us all working hard to work out which ones we liked? What was the point of all of that.”
A BWCE representative responded: “There are no sites – these are areas which CSE have shown that there is technical capacity.”
A member of the audience interjected: “No there is not. It’s a steep-sided, wet and slippery hillside.”
After the meeting Gavin Ingham Brooke, one of the organisers of the meeting, told the Echo: “The penny has not dropped. They don’t know how much opposition there is to this. It’s crazy it’s being even considered. It’s as simple as that. The process is totally warped.”
He said Councillor Guy would be held to account for his assurance that there would be no solar farms or wind turbines in the valley if local people don’t want them.
Joint statement says there are no specific renewable energy plans
As people left the meeting at St John’s on Thursday, they were handed a statement from B&NES Council, the Centre of Sustainable Energy, Bath & West Community Energy and the University of Bath to “clarify” the current position.
The leaflet said the project is a “community conversation” to understand whether there is any local interest in community-owned renewable energy.
It added: “Energy in Your Community is not planning any specific renewable energy development in Batheaston or St. Catherine.”
If a community-led idea did emerge, “it would only progress with clear local support and would still need to meet all planning requirements”.
It added that more engagement activities are planned to reach as many people as possible, including a survey.
Parish council ‘continues to engage’ with project
The chair of Batheaston Parish Council Councillor Hannah Squire issued a statement the day before the public meeting.
She said the council, which recognised the existence of a climate emergency in October 2020, was invited last July to register an interest in Energy in your Community with “no commitment made to install facilities”. Then last September, B&NES Council said it intended to pursue a project with the parish council, St Catherine’s parish, and other local organisations.
Councillor Squire said of February’s workshop: “Two of my fellow councillors attended, along with the clerk, and reported back to our council meeting on 10th February that the majority of the attendees were against the installation of facilities in any of the proposed locations.”
She added: “We are however continuing to engage in the project and are keen to give other members of the community a chance to air their views, and perhaps to identify options that were not considered at that meeting.
“The next step will be a survey of community views that B&NES will organise. We will do our utmost to ensure that as many people in the parish have a chance to respond.”
There was some support from people at Thursday’s meeting to explore sites locally for renewable energy.
Parish councillor Peter Bryant told the meeting: “Only when talking as a collective openly and democratically can we actually as a village come to a decision that represents all of us.”
