I write regarding the current application for a Solar Farm (Argus, May 14) before Lewes Planning.

Whilst I have always been vaguely in favour of the principle of free energy from wind and sun, I have until recently, never had any reason for a reality check, until I went to the West Country several months ago.

Along the A30 to Penzance there are sections of what was a green and pleasant land, now covered with what I first took to be plastic sheeting for forcing early crops. Looking closer, these all turned out to be solar farms.

Only they are not farms any more – they might just as well be huge grey factory roofs – and no one would permit those to be planted in the Green Belt, were it not for the solar 'fad'.

Cornwall looks a mess, and we don't want that for Sussex, just to generate six months’ worth of jobs. Look at Cornwall and learn from their mistakes.

The answer to future energy demand is nuclear fusion technology (Helium fused with hydrogen), which is now close to operation in France, and that will become our longer term solution here as well. The future is nuclear fusion and the future is already on our doorstep, a short hop across the English Channel. This installation at Tomkins Farm would blight Chailey for 25 years, in return for the mostly intangible short term benefits suggested by the developers, so I would call on the planners to reject it.

If you agree and wish to have your views heard, visit the Lewes Planning website, type in Tomkins Farm and add your thoughts to 'Public Comments', before the May 21 deadline expires. Act now, before more of the Green Belt disappears under glass.

Iain Crump, Furzegrove Barn, Cinder Hill, Chailey