Stop Stell Solar Farm Action Group

Exelby is a small rural village some two miles from Bedale - famously known as the ‘Gateway to the Dales’. It is a beautiful area filled with arable farmland, mature woodland, a number of listed buildings, and criss-crossed with public footpaths that are heavily used by local ramblers, dog walkers, cyclists and runners, as well as those on horseback and using mobility scooters from Exelby, Bedale and other local villages. Indeed, it is the ONLY non-road route that links both locations. It also enjoys some fantastic wildlife - roamed by deer, inhabited by hares and home to many bird species.

But this area is under threat. Solar Farm developer Enviromena will soon submit a planning application to build a Solar Power Station on 100 acres of agricultural

Land straddling Lords Lane. If their application is successful, the development will profoundly and negatively change the countryside around us. A vast chunk of productive agricultural land will be covered by thousands of 3 metre high solar panels, penned in by even higher security fencing and monitored around the clock by CCTV cameras posts….. oh and lets not forget the substations that will be built on site.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

Regardless of where you live this affects you - this is YOUR countryside, YOUR rural public rights of way. This isn’t just about the Lords Moor Lane proposal, because every approval Enviromena and other solar power station developers get emboldens them to develop more and more on green spaces near you. Today it’s Exelby and Bedale, but tomorrow it may be an oasis of green space that you currently enjoy near where you live.

ABOUT US

The first thing to say is that we are NOT anti-Solar! We support renewable energy and believe solar has its place in appropriate locations - not on productive farmland and green spaces that define our community and is the reason we choose to live here.

The local community have come together to oppose this development. We care passionately about protecting our North Yorkshire heritage, our food security and defending the countryside from long-term damage and irreversible development.

This is industrialisation of the countryside on a frightening scale.

WHY DONATE? HOW WILL MY DONATION BE USED?

Your contributions will directly fund the efforts needed to challenge the proposal, which may include any number of the following:-

* Professional planning and legal advice - engaging planning consultants and legal experts to strengthen our case against the development

* Awareness campaigns - designing and printing flyers, banners and posters to inform residents and encourage public opposition

* Website and online resources - hosting and maintaining an information hub where residents can access updates and guidance on submitting objections

* Community meeting and events - organising public meetings to discuss the impact of the solar power station and co-ordinate efforts

* Official report and environmental studies - commissioning expert assessments on the impact on wildlife, traffic and the local landscape.

Any donation, no matter how small, will help us take the necessary steps to ensure everyone’s voices are heard.

Please help us fight his proposal because surely projects like this cannot be at any cost in any place.

Together we protect these arterial public rights of way and the countryside they sit on for the local community.

Thank you so much for your much-needed support.