It plans to operate a solar farm on land next to its reserve at Blakehill Farm near Cricklade.
The Trust needs to raise £500,000 to pay for solar panels which will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 200 homes.
via www.bbc.co.uk
Looks like the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust are hell bent on sticking solar farms on (or in this case adjacent) to their nature reserves.
The trust's fundraising officer is quoted as saying:
"The site is not part of the main reserve so it's suitable for purpose," said Steve Webb the Trust's fundraising officer.
"It was an airfield during the war so there's concrete underfoot and it's semi-industrial."
Are the trust suggesting that 'brownfield' sites (i.e. semi-industrial) are unsuitable for wildlife? The implication being that a semi-industrial site is of low ecological value and the installation of a solar farm will not impact upon any biodiversity interest. The trust are this time keen to point out that the land is not part of Blakehill Reserve (where several thousands of those Essex reptiles were also released). Indeed the trust's webpage states:
The independent phase 1 habitat survey of the proposed site did not identify any ecological issues of concern.
However, what is not disclosed in the BBC News article or the rather misleading WWT website is the fact that the site is a designated local wildlife site and offers habitat that could support reptiles (pdf link). Great crested newts are known to occur in the local area and at least one pond is located within 60 m of the site boundary. Despite recommendations made by their ecological consultants in the previously linked report, the trust have this time applied for a licence to undertake gcn mitigation works (pdf download).
Also surveys did identify a small population of great crested newts (two to be precise) in one of the neighbouring ponds. These are a protected species so we have applied for a licence from Natural England to safely remove any from the site during construction. After construction we will build a new pond to provide improved amphibian habitat on the site as well.
Two? What does that mean? A population of two, or only two were observed during survey work. Why aren't the amphibian survey results also available as a download from the trust's website. If there are no ecological issues of concern, why has the site been designated as a local wildlife site and why apply for a great crested newt eps licence?
If an eps licence has been applied for, then clearly there are ecological issues of concern and presumably Natural England will only be able to issue a licence once the trust secure their funds to actually build the solar park? Perhaps this financial venture is a little more risky to prospective punters than it may first appear?
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