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We are a local group of residents working to stop Botley West, a plan from developers and landowners to do something, anything to persuade Little Englanders that it would be a good thing for everyone if we didn't just emit as much greenhouse gas as we possibly can until we all die. It's a planned solar power plant large enough to generate up to 840MW of renewable energy right here in Oxfordshire. We hate it.
It's not actually in Botley. It's where you are, watching you from the shadows. It's in Farmoor, hiding like a crocodile in the dark, murky waters of the reservoir. It's in Cassington, touching all your begonias. And it's in Eynsham and Hanborough and Wootton and Bladon, whispering on the wind.
Many of us are pro-solar, but on roofs, not on fields. And the roofs shouldn't be anywhere near us: we're in a greenbelt, don't you know, and if you dare suggest building new houses next to the lovely detached place we bought for twelve pound and a bag of crisps back in the late eighties, then we'll parish council our little faces at you so hard. And even if you do think they should be near us, then actually solar panels don't work in the UK and it's all a waste of time because it's too late to do anything about climate change anyway.
JOIN US!
Or, if you want to stop a renewable development near you, have a look at our Handy Guide to Preventing Renewable Energy Developments!
OUR KEY OBJECTIONS
It is vast
It is vast
Think of the biggest thing you've ever seen. A house? A fat elephant wearing a top hat? Botley West is going to be BIGGER THAN THAT. We don't like big things. They scare us.
Look at this picture of the Earth. Botley West is going to be ON THE EARTH.
Makes you think.
Loss of arable farmland
Loss of arable farmland
Giant vistas of pesticide-drenched monoculture crops make us do a happy little wee sometimes.
Botley West would cover 1,400ha of land, which is about 0.5% of Oxfordshire's farmland, to power most if not all of Oxfordshire's homes. That is FAR TOO MUCH. If they can't power all of Oxford from one field, they shouldn't even talk to us.
Solar is least efficient
Solar is least efficient
Oh god there's so many ways to produce green energy, and just about all of it is in someone else's backyard! Let's talk about panel efficiency - definitely not a totally meaningless topic when it comes to utility scale energy generation. Solar's numbers are smaller! SMALLER! Sure, we don't know about what that actually means, but Big Number Good, right?
No natural biodiversity gains
No natural biodiversity gains
Whilst there might be science and research demonstrating that well-managed solar farms can have significant benefits for biodiversity, that's not NATURAL. We want organic, homebrewed biodiversity improvements, and if you can't give us them, we'll stick with our giant monocultured fields thankyouverymuch.
The idea of doing solar and working to obtain other benefits confuses us and makes us scared.
Carbon debt may never be repaid
Carbon debt may never be repaid
These jerks say that reality shows that the carbon debt created in the manufacture of solar panels is repaid within 2 or 3 years, but what do they know? We say different!
If you can't build something in the current system without creating a carbon debt, we say you shouldn't build it at all! It's like we always say, if the current system sucks, just deal with it and never try to improve it! Checkmate, scientidiots!
It is in a special place
It is in a special place
Look, our place is much more special than yours, so you should have all the stuff we don't like near YOU. We've got Oxford. Have you got Oxford? I don't think so. And Churchill's GRAVE. If he rises from the dead to do a famine on India again, do you think he'll want to see solar panels? No! He'll want to drink champagne and be racist.
Disregard for the green belt
Disregard for the green belt
The green belt has done a really good job keeping the riff raff away from us, because we've not let anyone build houses nearby us for YEARS. We don't understand why it shouldn't keep EVERYTHING away, except for nice new houses for middle class people with whom we can drink wine.
Visual impact unprecedented
Visual impact unprecedented
URGH we just don't want to look at theeemmmmm. URGH. Why should we have to be impacted in any way by the need to decarbonise the energy systeemmmm? The only people who should be affected in any way by climate change are people who live on low-lying islands, everyone who needs potable water or adequate food
Who benefits from it?
Who benefits from it?
The power goes into the National Grid. That is ENERGY COMMUNISM. If we're going to generate power in Oxfordshire, it should all stay in Oxfordshire. What even is a National Grid? We didn't learn about working together to achieve common goals in school, and we'll be damned if we have to learn about sharing now!
WHAT ARE THE RIGHT RENEWABLES?
To protect our fields, we recognise the need to propose other sites more suitable for solar energy which could form part of local and government policy. Here are some suggestions from local residents:
The roofs of all the new houses built in the country. We don't want any of those new houses to be built anywhere near us, but wherever some poor suckers aren't middle-class enough to stop other people having somewhere to live, they should have solar panels on top.
Floating solar panels, somewhere out at sea. Maybe the channel, that'll stop those little boats.
Wales.
On industrial sites, like the ones we don't want built anywhere near our villages.
In Minecraft, my grandson is always building things in that game. Never looks up from his computer box when he comes over. You could build plenty of renewables there. Not that my daughter comes over all that often anymore, so I hardly see my grandkids. Ungrateful, that's what she is.
Just build it after I'm dead. I won't care then, and those woke millenials deserve to deal with runaway manmade climate change.
What our supporters say*
On the need for net zero
On the need for net zero
"We live on a carbon-based planet. Everything depends on carbon. It's the carbon cycle. Where do we go if we get rid of the carbon?" - SBW committee member, at Witney Eco Forum in June 2023
"This is Blenheim propaganda. The arguments he is coming up with are the ones that Blenheim suggesting subliminally to make it palatable but have no reality basis - this just makes it sound good!"
On climate change
On climate change
"Enjoy life while you can, none of us will be alive in 100 years time so why worry."
"This indicates one thing, and one thing only: there is a strong faction in the City of London that is not playing ball with the globalists."
When discussing climate change
When discussing climate change
"I still truy [sic[ wish we could have a meeting to debate the question 'how bad is climate change?' -- and I would be willing to put my argument that we are being fed nothing but cobblers."
On keeping things in perspective when thinking of the killing of 25,000 people
On keeping things in perspective when thinking of the killing of 25,000 people
"This whole idea for a vast Solar Farm within walking distance of Blenheim and Churchill's grave at Bladon and which is devastating to some of the prettiest countryside of Oxford is no different to bombing of Dresden."
*unless stated, all unedited quotations from facebook groups/posts connected to the project
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