So refreshing to read chill voxpops. Let's hear more from people just getting on with things "We need more energy. I don't think it's harming anyone" "There were no objections" "When they built it we were concerned what it could look like, but it's fine" - ThreadSky

dorianlynskey.bsky.social • 1 day ago

So refreshing to read chill voxpops. Let's hear more from people just getting on with things

"We need more energy. I don't think it's harming anyone"

"There were no objections"

"When they built it we were concerned what it could look like, but it's fine"

Reposted from Joe Lo

The BBC spoke to locals near a big English solar farm and found the panels “do not really bother them” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Comments

ronpickering.bsky.social•1 day ago

I think we've all learned that when it comes to Voxpops they're more interested in rage farming than wind farming

signesjohansen.bsky.social•1 day ago

If only everyone were so reasonable…

oscillatr.bsky.social•1 day ago

We need Pulitzers for this very niche type of reporting.

markpownall.bsky.social•1 day ago

The strong tendency of news editors to believe conflict =story, acceptance/chill=no story, is an underestimated distortion of a great deal of journalism

cheekyburger.bsky.social•1 day ago

True that. For the media it seems much more appealing to find folks who are outraged, whatever the subject

wendymcd.bsky.social•1 day ago

Far better than a coal mine, which used to be the local industry.

spanglish51.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’m surprised they didn’t spotlight the lunatic fringe who believe they give you cancer & attract Martians .
Strange to have a bit of balanced reportage from the BBC.

sharonm72.bsky.social•1 day ago

100% this is not the story the journo was expecting to get, but it is how most people feel about most things

scribblerevans.bsky.social•1 day ago

“Up with this kind of thing!”

grumpinuts.bsky.social•1 day ago

Local FB page on the town where I grew up has a post about a proposed solar farm on the outskirts of the town.

Response so far...

NIMBYs Assemble!!!

jsbarretto.com•1 day ago

> He fumed that having one on his doorstep had devalued his property, and that acres upon acres of "valuable farmland" were lost to the scheme.

Huh, I wonder why the land might be valuable

joechrisp.bsky.social•1 day ago

Sarah Pay, 70, of Ashby, has banks of panels just beyond her garden fence, but said: "We are sort of relieved because it's not housing.

dorianlynskey.bsky.social•1 day ago

God forbid there would be houses

benstanley.eu•1 day ago

I’ve never actually thought before of how many “well, live and let live I suppose, there are other people in this world and not just me” voxpops must have been recorded over the years, or what the national mood might be like if they were broadcast

spanglish51.bsky.social•1 day ago

True ! People who accept change is inevitable & work to make it the least intrusive option . It benefits us all .

adamnguest.bsky.social•1 day ago

I know. The idea of adding nuclear to our energy mix is a hoot. Most of England would have a fit of the vapours over a chicken coup extension next door let alone a reactor within 50 miles.

clarissa57.bsky.social•1 day ago

Also:

admiralbooth.bsky.social•1 day ago

Who are these ‘reasonable people’? Crisis actors?

willparker.bsky.social•1 day ago

It's a nice counterpoint to the tortured metaphor in the headline.

Someone should assure the BBC that nobody is "living in the shadows" of an 8ft tall array in the field over yonder.

dorianlynskey.bsky.social•1 day ago

Right, it's not like Mount Doom

frankpodmore.bsky.social•1 day ago

Probably more representative than the furious ones, but less representative than people going 'Is there a solar farm near here? Oh, I suppose there is. Never really thought about it.'

edhollox.bsky.social•1 day ago

It's a former mining area, so I suspect more of a consensus view that, for the common good, that the landscape will not all be fields and lambs and village greens...

judithfairbairn.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yes, solar and wind farms are beautiful - cleaner energy.

harrysword.bsky.social•1 day ago

We live half a mile away from a big windfarm. I don’t get why anyone would have a problem with it. They are silent and, imo, look pretty cool on the landscape.

jymbob.bsky.social•1 day ago

New solar farm just beyond the woods near us. It's lovely. We go for walks around the perimeter and listen to the birds

spanglish51.bsky.social•1 day ago

Far more attractive than a Windscale or the concrete cooling towers which line the Trent .

onebiskuit.bsky.social•1 day ago

I saw a video from the Netherlands where a homeowner living in the shadow of a wind turbine compared the noise levels with his neighbour’s lawnmower at similar distance. The dB reading for the mower was considerably louder.

dorianlynskey.bsky.social•1 day ago

“Pretty cool” says local resident Harry Sword

petefrasermusic.bsky.social•1 day ago

It’s good to be reminded that so much of the heat in so called wedge issues has been hunted down and exploited for the purpose of making them look like a bigger deal than they are, I think.

petefrasermusic.bsky.social•1 day ago

I should imagine, re energy, there’s a diverse range of opinions on green options, mostly converging around positive feelings.

jamesxwilkinson.bsky.social•1 day ago

My (limited) research indicates that solar panels typically stand around 1.5 metres off the ground. Who are these people that you have found living in their shadow, BBC? Hobbits?

thorntonjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

I grew up in the flatlands of rural south Lincolnshire and visit regularly. I think the solar farms, the turbines and yes pylons are all beautiful assets to the landscape. I don't understand the objections at all.

thesecretfarmer.bsky.social•1 day ago

The big pylons are a lot easier to navigate around in fields aswell compared to the smaller wooden ones! Not that I've ever caught a wooden one by accident....!

thorntonjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

The objections aren’t practical by and large, are they? They’re aesthetic, which is bizarre to me. The line that it’s a mid-use of farming land seems thin given the amount of housing being built, and I’m sure there’s more grazing cattle/livestock than there was 50 years ago.

thesecretfarmer.bsky.social•1 day ago

Ah the issue here is it's pretty much all arable so not able to graze livestock under solar panels. It's generally good land this way. Pylons very much needed but with solar panels I think we could rethink better ways with them. Good money those who's land they go on though!

thorntonjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

Ah okay. I was raised near the Wash.

thesecretfarmer.bsky.social•1 day ago

So was I! Still here obviously! Used to be a lot more cattle this way until probably about 30/40 years ago I'd imagine

thorntonjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

And grazing cattle benefit from the shade from solar farms. Win win, surely.

magnificocleary.bsky.social•1 day ago

The objections all seem to be from know nothing reactionaries who think they know how to use the land better than the farmer.

thorntonjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

But how do the farmers feel? I wonder @thesecretfarmer.bsky.social

thesecretfarmer.bsky.social•1 day ago

I do wonder those who are complaining the most...are they those who have moved in from away into new build estates that sprung up in towns and villages all looking the same!!

thorntonjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

That would be such an interesting poll if the Free Press / Spalding Gdn had the will or resources to do it.

thesecretfarmer.bsky.social•1 day ago

I'd hate to think what the letters would like after the poll! I could fill a whole column with complaints from people moving into village that I've had! Admittedly all from one person!

thesecretfarmer.bsky.social•1 day ago

For those who can have them on their land (unfortunately I can't!) It's pretty much a no brainer to say yes for the money it will bring in over a say 7 -10 year period what with the pretty dire state of UK farming at the moment

thorntonjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

So the farmers aren’t campaigning against them?

thesecretfarmer.bsky.social•1 day ago

Certainly the ones who own their own land for them to go on aren't!

thorntonjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

Now I’m wondering - do they object to the decrepit windmill remains from the 19c too? There’s plenty around. I think they’re beautiful as well.

stuarthedges.bsky.social•1 day ago

There are the remains of an old windmill right next to a modern wind turbine near me. I love seeing them together, it gives the site a real sense of history.

thorntonjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

Absolutely. When you’re living at sea level, the wind is what you’ve always got.

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