Detrimental Effect on Tourism and Local Businesses

The historic environment of Letheringham, rich in wildlife/biodiversity, the river Deben (which proposed site can be seen from), cycle routes, footpaths and wide skyline views across the Deben Valley attracts many tourists.  This forms an integral part of the East Suffolk Tourist offering.  Our tourists are “day trippers”, or holidaymakers (from the UK and abroad), and their expenditure, within Letheringham and across wider communities, is vital to our small rural economies and to local people.

There are over 50-holiday cottage “beds” in Letheringham alone, not to mention accommodation at The Farmstead, Easton Farm Park, Kettleburgh Chequers, Crown in Framlingham etc, and numerous cottages within the wider villages.  Tourist expenditure is the mainstay of many local businesses, be that accommodation owners (allowing them to employ many local people/businesses), pubs, restaurants, takeaways, cafés, local shops, tourist attractions and charities (e.g. RSPB Minsmere, National Trust, etc).

A simple example of this is the 30+ visitors from the USA coming to visit Letheringham Priory.  The next visit is in June 2025, from the Wingfield Society in the USA (note Edward Maria Wingfield, founder of the first Settlement in America, Jamestown).

There is concern that a Solar Farm, sited within an area with such intrinsic character and beauty, could ultimately destroy the Tourist industry (there is already concern due to Sizewell C).  There are many proposed Solar Farms within the Deben Valley and there is serious concern that floodgates are opening, generating the very real potential of turning Suffolk into a network of Solar Power Stations. This could deter tourists from visiting our area.  This industrialisation threatens to undermine the region’s reputation as a place of natural beauty, potentially harming local businesses, local people and the wider economy.


The proposed Solar Farm development would cause “……harm to, or loss of, the significance of a designated heritage asset (from its alteration or destruction, or from development within its setting)……” [NPPF, 213].  We believe that significant account should be taken of “the positive contribution of heritage assets can make to sustainable communities including their economic vitality” [NPPF, 210,b].  In Letheringham alone, this “economic vitality” equates to a huge economic contribution (employees and local businesses), particularly when balanced proportionally against resident numbers.