The municipal administration’s journey continues to share the problems and commitment regarding the photovoltaic issue. The deputy mayor Damasco Rosi met with the CIA – Italian Farmers Confederation manager Massimo Gay and the vice president Giovanni Bianchini to gather fears and doubts from the agricultural world and reiterate the position of the Municipality of Massarosa. The possible proliferation of photovoltaic fields to the detriment of the agricultural nature of many lands is undoubtedly a cause for concern from both a landscape and strategic point of view.
The Municipality of Massarosa illustrated the motion approved in the Municipal Council which asks the government and parliament to act quickly with changes and implementing decrees that allow the possibility of intervening with urban planning tools on the topic at a territorial level.
The debate opened following the request presented by a company to build a plant in the agricultural area of Piano di Mommio, close to the residential area, on an area of approximately two hectares and with a power of approximately 2 megawatts, but other situations according to current regulations they could appear in the coming months.
“Even with the exponents of CIA – declares the deputy mayor Damasco Rosi – we shared the opposition to the installation of photovoltaic systems on agricultural areas without any respect for the territorial governance responsibilities which belong to the municipalities, as already said and reiterated publicly and to the citizens from the beginning. The absence of the “suitable areas” decree under the Government’s competence, the lack of involvement of the regions and municipalities and the rules introduced by the national legislator which provide for extremely simplified procedures and without specific checks, exclude local authorities from the possibility to adopt acts that could counteract the construction of photovoltaic fields and deprive them of any role. We are faced with a real risk of colonization of the territories by companies that invest in this sector, which have huge resources at their disposal and which act to the detriment of local communities and their legitimate concerns. We reiterated the administration’s position also with a motion approved in the city council inviting the Government to act: in favor of the energy transition, the production of energy from renewable sources and the reduction of energy production pollutants, but all this must happen only through territorial planning acts to be delegated to the regions and municipalities, certainly not on the basis of the simple economic return of companies that remove areas from the territory for agricultural production, goods of significant environmental value and waste them from a landscape point of view as well as collateral damage to citizens and properties close to these installations. I thank CIA for its willingness to support our battles at all levels.”
“As often happens, the regulations are imposed on the territory from above and these are the results – underlines Massimo Gay CIA – it is not really necessary to use agricultural land when there are abundant surfaces available such as the roofs of warehouses and buildings. Rather than producing more electricity, we should think about saving it, especially the absolutely useless energy. Therefore, think instead of encouraging the cultivation of abandoned land. Farmers are the true custodians of the landscape and too often this is not taken into consideration with serious consequences and risks also at a hydrogeological level”.
