As reported in our last post and also the latest edition of the Sutton Chatter, Renew Estate had committed to lodge their Response to Submissions (RTS) by late November 2019.

On 4 December the SSAG (see email below) again wrote to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) seeking answers to two simple questions:

1. Did Renew Estate lodge the RTS as stated?
OR
2. If they didn’t, then what happens now?

At the time of writing this post, 15 December 2019, the DPIE has not responded to the SSAG. This information vacuum is agonising for the community especially with the holiday season fast approaching. The questions are not complex, either the RTS has been submitted or it has not. As the impacted community surely we have a right to know what’s going on.

Despite DPIE’s request that Renew Estate engage with our community, they have failed to do so. This inaction displays an arrogant contempt by the developer.

We also advised in the December Chatter of a number of media articles relating to Renew Estate’s partner Wirsol and the Springdale solar project. A copy of those are also attached for your information.

Inquiry into sustainability of energy supply and resources in NSW

The SSAG wrote to the Committee Manager asking if we could be notified of progress relating to this inquiry, and also as a regional community impacted by a renewable energy development that we would like to host a hearing. Their response, all communications regarding the inquiry will be done via Twitter, and that until Parliament resumes in the New Year nothing will happen. The first sitting day for the NSW Legislative Assembly (NSW LA) is 4 February 2020. The SSAG provided a response expressing our concerns that Twitter is not a suitable communication tool for everyone. However, the SSAG will monitor Twitter and engage with the NSW LA again in the New Year. SSAG’s link below.

Last edition of Sutton Chatter for 2019

The upside of this waiting game has been that the SSAG has been able to dissect the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and research each topic and provide the community with bite size pieces of information that are easy to understand and gives more weight to our objections. We hope that members of our community have taken the time to read our monthly Sutton Chatter articles and have found them to be both informational and educational. See SSAG’s latest article.

Keep informed
With the next edition of the Sutton Chatter not till February 2020 the SSAG will keep the website up to date and should there be any updates we will notify you by way of emails (for those subscribed to our website). So if you don’t already subscribe you can follow the link on our homepage to sign up for notifications.

Thank you
For the vast majority of the community the public information session held on 7 December 2017 was the first time they had heard about this proposed development. If you take a look at the First Newsletter (see link), Renew Estate had expected the development to be operational by mid 2019. https://suttonsolaractiongroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/359de-springdale-solar-farm-newsletter-1-web.pdf

Its been two years since that initial contact and Renew Estate has been in the wind since August 2018. The SSAG strongly believes that the developers behind the proposed Springdale development thought our community would be an easy mark and we could be steamrolled. On the contrary, the SSAG has and will continue to campaign for this development not to be approved based on how completely unsuitable this area is and how inadequate the EIS has been in providing a credible assessment of the site and our area.

The SSAG would like to thank all our supporters and even though at times it may seem like nothing is happening we ask that you hang in there. When the time comes we will be looking for you to stand with us to show how strong our resolve is.

The SSAG would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.