The inspectorate’s requirements for an adequate consultation require there to be:
So we urge you please to write to key people who have the power to require a repeat consultation and those who can influence this action. Your letter could refer to the requirements above and mention any of the shortcomings listed on this page - use examples from your own experience, the area where you live, the event you attended (or couldn’t attend!), in your own words if possible.
If you don’t have time to compose your own letter from scratch you could use one of these pro-forma letters (just copy and paste). Sections in [bold italics] are where you could add a few personal comments if you wish.
Send your E-Mail letter to: botleywestsolar@planninginspectorate.gov.uk
Copy in: Your MP robert@robertcourts.co.uk // layla.moran.mp@parliament.uk, Leader of WODC andy.graham@oxfordshire.gov.uk, your Parish Council here
Dear Inspector
I am writing to request that the Botley West Statutory Consultation be repeated because it did not follow the official guidance in terms of sufficient, accessible and easily interpretable information with adequate time for participation, consideration and response.
My MP, Robert Courts, has also called on PVDP to repeat the consultation. This is necessary to make up for what he describes as the “lack of objectivity and detailed answers to questions on land use and special circumstances,” and the need for PVDP to provide “a real readiness to listen to and act on the well-founded concerns that residents rightly have.”
As one of those residents with well-founded concerns, I believe that a fresh consultation should include these essential components:
[Expand on the points most relevant to your experience if you can].
Yours
Dear Inspector
Despite requests from MP Robert Courts, West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC), the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and others asking the developer Photovoltaic Development Partners (PVDP) to delay until after Christmas, the consultation was rushed through to start on 30 November before many key investigations had been carried out by PVDP, leading to much missing information [mention one or two of these specific examples: eg Grounds for establishing the ‘very special circumstances’ required to justify building on the Green Belt, Biodiversity Net Gain Assessment, Environmental Management Plan, Construction Traffic Management Plan, impact assessment on the Blenheim World Heritage Site, a very limited and inadequate selection of photomontages, including omission of many of the most significant view-points] in the Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR) which meant many questions went unanswered at the consultation events [give a specific example of a question you asked that wasn’t satisfactorily answered if you can] and a full consultation was impossible.
The Community Consultation leaflet (nearly overlooked in its plain white envelope in the middle of the Christmas post) read more like a sales brochure than an informative unbiased report. It made extravagant claims but gave no details or evidence. It gave very little objective information. For example, it didn’t even mention the size of the site - despite this being the biggest cause for concern for many people once they have been informed.
[Add personal difficulties in attending consultation events due to missing venues, inappropriate dates and/or time of day - some village specific suggestions are shown below]
Like my MP, Robert Courts, I am therefore asking for the consultation to be repeated with clearer maps and photomontages of all significant viewpoints, at least preliminary information on the missing topics, with day and evening events on more appropriate dates in ALL affected villages.
Yours
I am a resident of Combe, West Oxfordshire (population 774). The Parish boundary is less than 2km from the red-line boundary of the proposed Botley West Solar Farm. I have now learnt that PVDP stated in their Statement of Community Consultation that they would consult everyone living within a 2 km radius of the site.
Despite this, like all of my neighbours, I received absolutely no information from the Developer Photovoltaic Development Partners (PVDP) about the Statutory Consultation which I understand finished on 8 Feb 2024.
In addition, Combe Parish Council have been omitted, for the second time, from the list of Parish Councils to be consulted. This is despite the request sent after the first consultation to be included in the Statutory consultation.
The residents of Combe have had no opportunity to review and comment on the Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR) proposals (which, I understand, has been heavily criticised by others for the its inadequacies) so I am writing to ask you to require PVDP to repeat the consultation to include our village.
I am a resident of [Wootton, (population 602)] or [Tackley (population 1073)]. The proposed Botley West Solar Farm comprises 1000 hectares of which the northern section comprises 300 hectares so it would be large enough to form an NSIP project on its own. Yet nowhere in this section - bordering Tackley and Wootton - were the residents offered a consultation event or an information access point despite both villages having spacious village halls.
The nearest event was in Woodstock - not in the centrally placed and well known Town Hall but in a Community Hall on a no-through road in a residential estate on the outskirts which was difficult to find, with hardly any parking and no bus service.
The only document I saw was the Community Consultation leaflet which read more like a sales brochure than an informative unbiased report. It made extravagant claims but provided no details or evidence. It gave very little objective information. For example, it didn’t even mention the size of the site - which I learnt with many other facts from the Stop Botley West campaign group.
The residents of [Tackley/Wootton] have had inadequate opportunity to review the Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR) proposals (which, I understand, have been heavily criticised by others for its inadequacies) so I am writing to ask you to require PVDP to repeat the consultation and to include at least one consultation event in the northern section.
I am a resident of [village] and in full time work, getting home at around 6:30pm. My nearest in-person consultation event was at Long Hanborough which ran from 1pm to 5pm on Wednesday 13 Dec and it was therefore impossible for me to attend. Only 3 events in the whole consultation period ended after 6pm and I couldn’t reach those in time. I have therefore been unable to consult on this important issue and I am asking for the consultation to be repeated to include more events when working people can attend.
My nearest consultation event was held in the inappropriate and busy period leading up to Christmas when I had limited time to attend due to other commitments.
The consultation event in Woodstock was not in the centrally placed and well known Town Hall but in a Community Hall in a residential estate on the outskirts. It was difficult to find, with hardly any parking and no bus service.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) are doing a cracking job of raising awareness, gathering support and influencing MPs and the Government to legislate for rooftop solar rather than huge ground based projects. They are extremely supportive of SBW, supplying terrific help and using their nationwide network to help our cause too. We are therefore very keen that our supporters should be their supporters too!
Here are some ways you can help:
Any donation you can give will be tremendously useful. You can make a donation here. Thank you!
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