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Rātū 6 Pēpuere 2024 Tuesday 6 February 2024
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Neighbours in the dark over solar plans WILLIAM WOODWORTH
Bemused neighbours of a new proposed solar farm installation claim developers haven’t been careful enough when it comes to due process. The solar installation, proposed for a paddock at 712 Dillons Point Road, is due to start construction
work once council consents have been approved. However, neighbours say the land, purchased for $1.3million by Energy Marlborough, a subsidiary of Marlborough Lines, is unsuitable for the farm installation. Concerns include environmental, ecological, and financial factors
which developers will have to contend with, neighbours claim. “Energy Marlborough’s persistence with this project is strangely puzzling, given the obvious drawbacks of the site”, says concerned locals in a letter to the Marlborough Weekly. “Not only will access be difficult in winter, but also there will
have to be a considerable investment in infrastructure such as upgrading of the lines on Hardings Road. “After the massive amount of work and disruption it will take to get the solar farm running and when it has issues or doesn’t perform as expected, who pays the bill of getting the panels removed
or do they just rot?”, said one, speaking to the Weekly. Neighbours say they feel left in limbo since plans were announced and contest developer claims of open and early planning engagement.
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All on board Choristers Dave Barnett and Derek Harding with violinist Ana Panoho, flutist Camilla Nilsson and, front, violinist Sophia Speedy and chorist Gemma Amsler find their “sea legs while Musical director Robert Tucker steers the boat. Photo: Paula Hulburt.
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