I strongly object to the development of the Sundown Solar Farm project. As part of a family that has two properties within the 4 km buffer zone, I was saddened to learn of the poor communication regarding the project apart from a letter from the Department of Planning received in July. I understand a community meeting was held where 2 land owners attended. My family and a number of other people were unaware of this meeting and did not receive communications but most certainly would have attended either personally or remotely if this option was given. I am greatly disappointed in both the developer and also the Inverell Shire Council for the lack of consultation, particularly given the safety concerns I have regarding the initial development, and also further into the projects continuation which I will detail below.
Firstly I have major concerns regarding the planned use of Spring Mountain Road increasing traffic flow to 428 vehicles on a 6 day per week basis seems like a tragedy waiting to happen.
Three of my young family members catch the bus from the turnoff from Gwydir Highway to Spring Mountain Road, as I did as a child, and do not see that proposed “mitigation strategies” to avoid school bus times are anything Other than empty promises. Adding the amount of traffic to this road instead of insisting of developers using their funds to make an access road avoiding an impact on the rural road is irresponsible and will impact not only these children’s safety but emergency access and bush fire fighting access.
This brings me to my next point regarding fire safety. great concern to me is also the risk of fire as a result of either panels or battery storage catching fire. This area, as the developer has quoted, is in a renewable energy hub comprising other solar farms and wind farms. As a result of the wind farms in close proximity, it is a no-fly zone for firefighting aircraft. If a fire occurs and is not contained it would become a terrible disaster as a lot of the terrain would be difficult to fight a fire in with vehicles alone.
Part of the appeal of this beautiful part of the world is the natural wild terrain. Unfortunately we are headed into an El Niño period, our country is severely affected by fire and if a major fire event occurs the plans for this project as well as the impact on traffic and roads as well as possible impacts on farm dams under harvestable rights and groundwater depletion if bore access is granted, this could be an unmitigated disaster for rural fire services that my family have been a part of for more than 40 years.
Please consider the impact on hardworking rural residents and not the almighty dollar.

See Attachment

Another solar farm and battery factory Prime agricultural land yet again no respect for the local communities surrounding this construction site, all the money and profits going overseas to offshore businesses. What is the end result for the Australian public community?
There is plenty of land out west to build these solar factories that will not affect the local communities . And reduce our Prime agricultural land
I’m strongly against this proposal

As per attachment

I am currently a university student at a University in Queensland, but assist my family with the operation of our farm Warrawee on Spring Mountain Road, Swan Vale.

I am very concerned with the proposed solar farm development and its impact on my future, my safety and the safety of my friends whilst we are working and enjoying life during my holidays on our family farm.

The access road in question, being Spring Mountain Road, runs through our family farm and the plan to increase the size of the road, the number of vehicles on the road and the size of vehicles regularly running on this road is a direct conflict of use with the farm land surrounding it. How can the developers of the Solar Farm guarantee the safety of not only the farm animals but also my friends and I when we are helping with the cattle on the property? It is a conflict of use to have a 7.8 metre wide road with a speed limit of 100km an hour running directly through Warrawee when we have cattle grazing on both sides of the unfenced road. The development proposal must include a solution which allows direct access for us and our cattle so we do not need to risk our lives when we are mustering our animals and directing them across to the other portion of our property. For the proposal to suggest we can do this in a certain time frame is an entitled statement and shows the developer has no concept of rural life and the time frames kept on farms.

In addition I am very aware of issues surrounding environmental sustainability, particularly when discussing rural land. The proposed development is utilizing water, a scarce resource, for the dampening down of roads and cleaning of solar panels. This water is a valuable resource which has many higher uses than the washing of equipment and dampening of roads.

The dust which will settle over the pastures on the farms impacted will not only have a significant impact on the health of animals grazing these properties but will decrease the ability of the farms to store carbon. The collection and storage of carbon is vital to the health of our lands and our future and it seems short sided to make Australian farmers and in turn future generations including my generation, by way of decreasing their ability to store carbon and paying the price of decreased quality product in the sale yards, pay the cost for the establishment by a large international corporation of a solar farm which will send the majority of its profits overseas.

In addition, I suffer severe hay fever. The constant dust which will be created by the heavy traffic load including buses and trucks on the road through our property, will make my ability to stay in our residence let alone work on the property near impossible. The proposal must make allowance for the amount of dust that will be generated that will not be covered simply by the constant dampening down of the road. The amount of water required to do this, given the length of the road is immense and the need for a water truck to be used virtually full time during the course of the development is unsustainable. This is costly in terms of water and this cost to the community will become even greater if we head into a dry period.

The noise generated from the proposal is well above standards with the developers simply providing residents with advice that this will happen. I do not find this acceptable and I find it damaging to the rural lifestyle and the health and welfare of our animals. This project will provide no benefit to me in terms of a future farmer but may cause immense damage to the infrastructure and animals under our care. It will also make it extremely unpleasant as a place to work and also relax as a family.

Swan Vale is a rural area with large commercial farms and farming families. The development of the proposal and its access road do not fit within the ideals of rural living and do not meet the test in terms of expectations of city dwellers wanting to know the product they buy as a consumer has had a healthy and happy life.

I am writing to object the proposed development by Sundown Solar Pty. Ltd.
I am disappointed that there has been limited community consultation with the community that will be directly affected to this proposed development.
I am concerned that many aspects of the proposed project will have direct adverse impact's to my families health and safety.
The highest concern to my family is the impact of traffic and safety in stage 1 and 2 of the proposed development as we live in a rural zoned area and our home is directly opposite Spring Mountain Rd named one of the preferred routes to the development. As it stands Spring Mountain Road is a no through road and has limited traffic travelling in and out on a daily basis, there would be less than 40 movements on the road on a daily basis. to increase movements to 428 units per day is a significant impact to the safety of my children accessing the school bus of a morning and departing of an afternoon. Movements that will be significantly increased will add to adverse health impacts to the significant dust that will result from the traffic, not only to my family but will also add to the stress to stock and excessive dust can contribute to Bovine Respiratory disease in our animals.
my other main objection to the proposed development is the ground water impacts as a result. Due to prolonged drought impacts to our community over the past ten or so years, levels of ground water in the area were close to collapse. The Swan Vale Landcare group have been working with the Mulloon institute in the last two years focusing on rehydrating the landscape in the Swan Brook catchment, by way of many different activities. The threat to water sustainability in our area with excess use of existing bores (that have been licensed to use for watering stock) would be of a dyer consequence to the survival of our farms as these reserves are relied upon on a daily basis and heavily relied upon in the dryer times for the survival of our families and animals furthermore to my knowledge that has been no communication with neighbouring landholders within 5kms to the site that have licensed bores, in regards to access to use these reserves during the construction phase and the on going maintenance of the proposed wind farm. The proposed development should be creating its own water storage system for the use of construction and maintenance of the development.
Ther following are named on the National Environmental Significance list and will be impacted by the proposed development which l include the project.Box Gum Woodland, Bluegrass, Austral Toadflax, Regent Honeyeater, Swift Parrot and Painted honeyeater. and also Eight threatened species were identified within the proposed development site, Brown Treecreeper, Diamond firetail, Dusky Woodswallow, Little Lorikeet, Scarlet Robin, Little Eagle, Bluegrass, Austral Toadflax. As a rural landholder I am highly concerned that the majority of our threatened ecological communities will be pushed to extinction during the construction phase of the project and some major protection has to be considered as a result. Koala have also been recorded in the area's surrounding the proposed development and have not been considered to be impacted as a result of the proposed development.
As a rural landholder and the limited consultation to our community I can only feel that I do not matter and my voice is not valued. I have been heavily involved as part of our community over the past 24 years and value our rural community and the pristine landscape that surrounds our valley. I would like Department of planning to strongly consider my objections to the proposed development.

This project is a positive step for renewable energy in NSW.
It will be a benefit to the local community by boosting the local economy through utilising local businesses and providing employment opportunities during the construction phase.
Local landholders will benefit from improvements to the Spring Mountain Road. The improvements which will have to be made to allow the heavy vehicle access required for construction will mean improved access for stock cartage to sale. This is a benefit which will continue long after the solar farm construction.

I fully support this project going ahead as I believe it will be a huge benefit to my local community. It will provide employment opportunities and contribute to the local economy.