Local MP criticises Xlinks over lack of detail and ‘casual approach’ to consultation with local communities

Torridge and West Devon’s MP, Sir Geoffrey Cox KC, has criticised the developer of a proposed 55-acre industrial site near Alverdiscott for electricity conversion and storage, Xlinks, for a ‘lack of detail’ and its ‘casual approach’ towards consultation with the local communities over such a major project.

The project, planned by Xlinks to bring in power generated by massive solar and wind installations in Morocco by undersea cable would achieve landfall at Cornborough and then transmit the power by underground cable from Cornborough to the site at Gammaton in the parish of Alverdiscott and Huntshaw for entry on to the National Grid at the Alverdiscott substation.

The MP, who visited the site recently and later attended a public meeting at Alverdiscott Community Hall, heard concerns from over 80 local residents that the developer had failed to engage meaningfully with local communities and that alternative and better sites had not been adequately explored.

The MP said: “While this appears to be a valuable proposal and great claims are made for it by its developer and backers, it is vital our local rural communities here in Torridge should feel their voices have been listened to and that they have been properly consulted.

‘Many residents of the area have been writing to me to express their grave concerns about the inadequacy of the consultation, the information available to them about the Xlinks Solar Project and the proposal to construct, over at least five years, a 55-acre industrial site for the conversion and storage of electricity. This site, in the middle of rolling Torridge countryside, is immediately adjacent or close to at least nine households, whose quality of life will be profoundly affected but will affect a much wider area.

‘I agree with the residents that so significant a project warrants a much greater effort at pre-application consultation and information by the developer. There is widespread disquiet at the casual approach of the developer to the natural desire of local people to understand the precise impacts on their community and at the paucity of detail available to them. For example, few if any details have been provided of the effect on and intensity of use of the very constricted local road network during the five-year construction phase.

‘I have urged the local planning authority to recommend strongly to the developer extending the time they take before submitting their application to ensure that residents are fully informed and to do all it can to engage with the local communities. I would urge the developer to take heed of these concerns.

‘It is also important that alternative sites with less impact on these small rural villages and hamlets should be closely considered. For example, some of those attending the meeting organised by the parish council told me that the old showground, closer to the Alverdiscott substation, would present a more acceptable location.

‘I have written to the Chief Executive of XLinks to this effect and I am meeting with the company’s representatives this week when I shall be making the same representations.”