TOP STORY

Deadline 2 (1 July) has now passed. Documents submitted are now available to read on the Inspectorate’s website (138 of them). Deadline 3 is on 22 July when comments on the documents submitted at Deadline 2 can be made.

Please find a moment to read some of these and respond by 22 July.

We particularly encourage you to read:

1. SBW’s written submission which includes comments on the Joint Council’s local impact report (LIR), other written representations and nominations for accompanied site visits. HERE
2. SBW’s Community Impact Report. HERE
3. The answers (mostly by the Applicant, PVDP) to the Examining Authority’s (ExA) first set of written questions HERE and their request for some mostly minor changes (reductions) in the panel area. HERE
4. Responses from the Oxfordshire Host Authorities (OHA) comprising Cherwell, WODC, Vale of White Horse District Councils plus Oxfordshire County Council. HERE
5. Responses from other important bodies e.g. Historic England, ICOMOS (UNESCO), and from other organisations or individuals you know and trust. Search by name HERE

Your response may be endorse or expand on a point you agree with or to disagree with the answers and responses given. Please send all your comments through the “Have your Say” link to the Inspectorate. Remember to clearly reference the document and numbered paragraph that you are responding to.

It is important that as many relevant comments from SBW supporters as possible are submitted. Please do this by 22 July. (Deadline 3)

You can respond HERE or by e-mailing BotleyWestSolar@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

A Positive Update: West Oxfordshire District Council Calls for Significant Reduction in Botley West Site in their Written Representation Submitted on 4 June.

Please submit your comments to PINS in support.

Needless to say, Botley West is no ordinary proposal. It's sheer size and unrelenting footprint is what stands it apart from the countless other large scale solar proposals currently vying for approval across the country. The proposed site location, our home, is graced with wide open fields, undulating river valleys and accompanying views, productive agricultural land, a myriad of public rights of way, a world famous UNESCO world heritage site and of course us – its residents.

At times, it has felt like local voices don’t matter. Consultations have too often felt like a box-ticking exercise, where being heard is not the same as being listened to. 

The sheer scale and sprawl of this scheme is simply not acceptable. 

But we can now say that our concerns have been legitimised through the meticulous, fact-based assessment from West Oxfordshire District Council in their recent Written Representation. 

That’s why we are pleased to see WODC’s call to drastically reduce the proposed size of Botley West Solar Farm represented in their revised map here:

Quote taken from Vale of White Horse DC Written Representation 

Map from West Oxfordshire DC Written Representation 

The evidence WODC has submitted to the Planning Inspectorate is compelling as they have examined the case for removing areas of panels based on heritage, landscape and visual, flooding and agricultural land quality issues.

Read WODC’s full Written Representation here.

In addition, the Joint Local Impact Report, prepared by WODC with Cherwell, the Vale, and Oxfordshire County Council, summarises the impact of the project as follows: 

The Local Impact Report (LIR) - a thorough and detailed document of over 180 pages - lays out clear reasons, with evidence, how and why they have judged each impact to be either negative or neutral with none seen as positive.

Read the full LIR here. 

Please also see the Written Representation submitted by Stop Botley West here.