About SMART FFF
Our Mission
Have Your Say
Our Mission
SMART FFF comprises a group of people who serve as trustees in the contemporary sense for the benefit of the general public.
We represent the interests of those residents and concerned individuals who are alarmed at this solar farm application.
Our History
Have Your Say
Our Mission
Founded in 2024, SMART FFF began as a small group of like-minded individuals who were alarmed at the prospect of a solar farm being sited on Best & Most Versatile (BMV) agricultural land and which would be on a large section of CDC's proposed Wildlife Corridor.
Have Your Say
Have Your Say
Have Your Say
VAST SOLAR FARM PLANNED FOR SOUTH MUNDHAM
BNRG Langmead (a joint venture between Langmead Group and Irish based BNRG Renewables) has submitted an application to build a large solar farm on a 121 acre site (69 football pitches) in South Mundham/Runcton.
See the application https://publicaccess.chichester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=SI43HYERKIK00
We believe in renewable energy, and we know how crucial it is in the fight against climate change. But not at the cost of our countryside. Not here, in the heart of North Mundham Parish, where centuries-old landscapes, rich biodiversity, and our way of life is under threat from a vast industrial-sized solar farm development.
Our green fields, open spaces, and the wildlife that calls this place home will be catastrophically affected in the name of progress. This isn't just about a few, well thousands upon thousands, panels. It's about the damage to irreplaceable habitats, the erosion of local agriculture, and the loss of a countryside that gives this region its' unique character.
Simply put, there are better locations than BMV land —brownfield sites, rooftops, and areas in the vast land holding of the applicant —where solar power can be appropriately sited without devastating our natural surroundings. This proposal sacrifices our rural heritage for quick profits, with scant regard for the impact on the people, animals, and environment that will suffer.
We support solar, but we cannot support this. We’re fighting to protect our landscape from irreversible damage. Our countryside is more than just a scenic backdrop—it is part of who we are. Once lost or damaged, it can never be regained.
INDUSTRIALISATION OF THE COUNTRYSIDE
Solar PV panels will be attached to steel frames elevated approximately 0.6 metres from the ground at their front edge with an overall height at their back edge of 3 metres.
The steel frame supports will be pile driven 1.2 metres into the ground. This is a very invasive and incredibly noisy process - check out our Facebook page to see a video which illustrates this.
There will be several transformer kiosks and inverters which are required to alter the voltage of the electricity generated by the solar panels to a level compatible with the electricity grid.
The inverters are very noisy - check out our Facebook page for a video of one of their solar sites.
FIELDS SHOULD BE FOR GROWING FOOD
We believe in meeting the country’s net-zero targets and renewables have a huge part to play.
Compared to off-shore wind farms, solar farms are inefficient. One wind turbine typically produces the same electricity as approx. 200 acres of land.
We are pro-solar but solar should be in the appropriate place eg: on brownfield sites or rooftops (particularly on all the new houses being approved to be built in this area). It should NOT be on BMV land which risks our food security.
Solar farms produce the maximum amount of power during summer months when demand for electricity is at its lowest.
SAY NO TO THIS PROJECT
- This project will deliver zero direct benefit to the local community.
- Significant disruption will be caused by the building of this site for upto 18 months.
- Lagness Road then Runcton Lane and Bowley Lane will be used to access the site. Traffic will get MUCH worse and the likelihood for accidents on our tight, single Lanes will increase.
- BNRG Langmead recently sold on two of its solar farms - they are in it purely for £'s financial gain.
- A landowner can typically charge £1000 per acre to 'lease' out their land for building a solar farm. So 121 acres x £1000 = £121,000 per annum, £4.8 million over 40 years - food for thought.
- Best & Most Versatile (BMV) land is taken out of use for at least 40 years with no g'tee it will ever be returned to agricultural use.
- CDC’s own Landscape Officer referred to the project’s "potential for some landscape harm to be caused due to its vast size and sensitivity of visual receptors."
- The character of heritage assets and rural amenity WILL be significantly harmed. Any new planting done as part of mitigation will take at least 15 years to mature enough to form proper eye-level screening.
- The site is in a Special Scientific Interest (SSI) Risk Impact Zone for Pagham Harbour and Chichester/Langstone Harbour
- The site partly sits in Flood Zones 2 & 3.
- A large proportion of the site is in CDC's Wildlife Corridor. The applicant itself is an OBJECTOR. Their application DOES NOT clearly demonstrate how building the site will not adversely effect wildlife.
- Renewable does not = zero carbon. The embedded carbon footprint (ECF) of a solar panel is 50gms of CO2 per kWh compared to a wind turbine’s 7.5gms.
“We all recognise the need to ramp up renewables but ground-mounted solar doesn’t have to be in anybody’s backyard. If we used just a quarter of the 617,000 acres of south-facing commercial roofspace for solar we could generate 25GW, almost half the current target. We should put panels on commercial and industrial rooftops, infrastructure corridors and car parks. Our neighbours in Europe are way ahead on this – Germany and France have successfully harnessed rooftop solar and Italy has banned industrial-scale solar on farmland.”
“Not only have we been alarmed by their visual impact we have warned the government time and again that we cannot go on sacrificing prime farmland to solar power generation. When climate change and armed conflict are both impacting on food supplies right around the globe it is utter and complete folly. Improving our ability to feed ourselves from our own land must take priority.”
Karen Squibb-Williams, Chair of the UK Solar Alliance (UKSA)
“The best agricultural land should be prioritised for food production”
The new National Policy Statement that we published in January makes clear that “applicants should, where possible, utilise suitable previously developed land, brownfield land, contaminated land and industrial land. Where the proposed use of any agricultural land has been shown to be necessary, poorer quality land should be preferred to higher quality land avoiding the use of “Best and Most Versatile” agricultural land where possible.
“Where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality. The availability of agricultural land used for food production should be considered, alongside the other policies in this Framework, when deciding what sites are most appropriate for development”.
“I want to see more solar on rooftops and, where that’s not possible, for agricultural land to be protected and for the cumulative impact on local villages to be considered”
“We will make sure we reach our solar targets in a sensible way, that delivers clean, cheaper energy but does not compromise our food security.”
Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho 15th May 2024
“Renewable energy production is a core part of the NFU’s net zero plan and solar projects often offer a good diversification option for farmers. However, there is a need to strike a balance between food security and climate ambitions. It is important that large scale solar farm development is located on lower quality agricultural land, avoiding the most productive and versatile soils. Utilising roofs and farm buildings for solar should also be incentivised as it delivers a sustainable method of energy production while avoiding any land use conflict."
NFU Deputy President Tom Bradshaw to the London City AM business paper 21st August 2022
TRAFFIC WILL GET WORSE
BNRG Langmead is proposing to to deliver components first to a compound off Lagness Road then down Runcton Lane and near Camic Pond down Bowley Lane.
There is a particular 'pinch point' on Runcton Lane where site traffic would be routed out of Saltham Grange private road.
Traffic congestion will likely become much worse as a consequence and the risk of accidents will increase.
PINCH POINT ON RUNCTON LANE
The applicant intends to deliver materials to the site in a variety of different sized vehicles using Runcton Lane. It will access Runcton Lane from a small. single track, privately owned drive out of Saltham Grange.
STRATEGIC WILDLIFE CORRIDOR
The proposed site includes a significant portion of CDC's proposed Wildlife Corridor which CDC approved £575,000 funding across five years, from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) at their 23rd November 2021 council meeting. In total, the project will cost £665,000, which includes £90,000 from Network Rail for enhancements where the railway crosses the corridors.
CDC's Environment Officer states that the applicant has to "....demonstrate that the proposal will not adversely affect the potential or value of the wildlife corridor." We believe they have FAILED to do so.
The applicant is an objector to the Wildlife Corridor.
PROPOSED SITE WILL BE SURROUNDED BY 2M HIGH FENCING & CCTV CAMERAS
The Site will be secured by a 50mm tensile galvanised wire mesh deer type fencing 2 metres in height.
Fixed CCTV cameras will be sited around the perimeter fence line. The applicant has not ruled out the use of drone surveillance.
The applicant has not ruled out the use of drones to manage the site.
NORTH MUNDHAM NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT PLAN
97% of residents questioned considered it important or extremely important to protect the rural environment.
88% considered it important or extremely important to protect agricultural land.
94% thought improved traffic management was either important or very important.
THREAT TO WILDLIFE
Transitory animals have their traditional routes blocked and might injure themselves in confusion. They mIght also more frequently use the Lanes creating a risk to road users.
Upto 18 months of construction presents a huge risk to the delicate ecosystem of wildlife in the area because of the likely and significant increase in vehicle traffic, use of construction equipment making a lot of noise and causing vibration and the loss of their current feeding and resting habitats.
Deer are regular visitors to the site
Resident water voles in Camic Pond
photo gallery
One of the many birds which call these fields home
Traffic is already challenging on our single track narrow lanes.
Lots of interest in our stand at the North Mundham Gala on Saturday 6th July
Industrialisation of countryside
Threat to wildlife
Rows of panels 3m+ high on steel frames
Gorgeous countryside will be ruined by row upon row of solar panels
2m high wire fencing and intrusive CCTV cameras spoiling rural setting
Single track Lanes have a history of traffic accidents