AS the green light is given for a solar farm to be built on farmland on Bathurst's outskirts, a member of a local environmental group has reminded the city that agricultural properties have been lost to housing estates in the past.
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"Look, society has got to make value judgements about the best use of land," Bathurst Community Climate Action Network (BCCAN) vice-president Dr Jim Blackwood said.
"Bathurst already has made the decision to turn over river flats to sporting fields and car parks and to turn over productive agricultural land to residential estates.
"This is no different.
"It's a value judgement about what's the best use of that land.
"And BCCAN believes overwhelmingly that the best use of this land is to build a solar farm on it."
The loss of productive farming land has been one of the main arguments against the Glanmire Solar Farm proposal by both the action group formed to fight the project and by state Member for Bathurst Paul Toole.
An almost 170-page response to community submissions document released last year in regards to the solar farm said there were six public submissions received in support of the project during the exhibition of the environmental impact statement and 131 public submissions received in objection.
"Submissions opposing the Project ... most frequently cited the Project's location, specifically regarding concerns about the incompatibility of the Project with agricultural operations as well as adverse impacts on visual amenity," the document said.
Mr Toole, meanwhile, said he "wouldn't call it a renewable project, it's a ruinable project" in a statement he released after the NSW Independent Planning Commission announced it had given approval to the Glanmire development.
"These projects are ruining farming practices, ruining livelihoods and ruining prime agricultural land that is vital for feeding and clothing NSW," he said.
"I've continued to share the community's concerns in relation to the proposed solar farm project at Glanmire and its impact on prime agricultural land and I'll continue to advocate for any regional community who don't want these industrial factories in their backyards."
The Glanmire Action Group has described the land where the solar farm is being proposed as a "jealously guarded greenbelt consisting of productive cultivation land at the eastern entrance to Bathurst and the Central West".
Dr Blackwood - who spoke in support of the Glanmire project to the Independent Planning Commission during a public hearing in November last year - said BCCAN "doesn't support all proposals in a blanket manner".
"We consider each proposal on its merits," he said.
"We gave a lot of thought to this proposal and arrived at the overwhelming conclusion that it was of overwhelming benefit to Bathurst for a whole range of reasons.
"We made our position on that clear and public right from the start and we received lots and lots of expressions of support for our stance on that.
"We believe that there is significant support for this proposal in Bathurst."
He said the project is "necessary for Bathurst to be seen to be supporting climate change action and to be seen to be a progressive city".
"The economic benefits to Bathurst will be significant in the construction phase and even ongoing," he said.
"There'll be more people employed in the solar farm than there would be in 300-odd hectares of farming land in Bathurst."
The company behind the solar farm, Elgin Energy, has previously said that approximately 150 full-time jobs would be generated at the peak of the project's construction period.
Go west?
ANOTHER regular criticism of solar farm proposals in the Bathurst region is that they should be built further west where land is more marginal.
"Bathurst needs to contribute," Dr Blackwood said in regards to that criticism.
"It's a relatively small amount of land [the site area is 186 hectares] in the local area that's involved.
"And it's very important that we develop these sort of facilities locally."
In terms of the visual impact of the solar farm, Dr Blackwood said "humans have learnt to live with all sorts of things around us".
"Where I am at Kelso at the moment, there's ugly powerlines going around all over the place. And we get used to things.
"I think once the fuss has died down and it's [the solar farm at Glanmire] accepted and been constructed and people see the job benefits in the construction phase, it will be accepted by most people."
