Plans have been revealed for a 14-hectare solar farm in the Green Belt near Whitchurch Village, which would power nearly 7,000 homes a year.
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The Reading-based clean energy solutions company Enviromena, which operates across Europe, is behind the plans for the “temporary” (40 years) solar facility on land at Hill Farm, off East Dundry Road.
The site is within the Dundry Plateau rural landscape character area and close to the Bristol City Council boundary, but within Bath and North East Somerset.
As the construction access is within the Bristol area, the application will be considered by both local authorities.
The plans for the 15MW solar array include photovoltaic panels, substations, inverters, perimeter fencing, landscaping and other associated works.
The planning application says the solar farm would create enough clean, renewable energy to power approximately 6,915 homes per annum.
It would avoid 3,866 tonnes of CO2 being generated per annum from fossil fuel-based energy generation, which is the equivalent of taking 2,770 cars off the road each year.
The application states that views of the proposed development from urban areas would not be as noticeable, and where there would be an impact on a sensitive countryside area, it would be mitigated by planting.
The proposed development has been set back from Maes Knoll, the Iron Age hill fort, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, in order to reduce impact and allow for screening through woodland mitigation planting.
No hedgerows inside the site would be affected by the solar farm and the development would be planned around a distinctive horse chestnut tree.
A number of enhancements are included with a biodiversity net gain of 40.82% proposed in habitat units and 10.24% in hedgerow units.
A ‘Glint and Glare’ report concludes: “No impacts requiring mitigation are predicted on surrounding road safety, residential amenity, and aviation activity associated with Norton Malreward Airstrip, New Farm Airfield, Clutton Hill Airfield, Avon Lane Airfield, and Bristol Airport.”
It is anticipated that the solar farm would take up to 28 weeks to complete, with the delivery period taking 12 weeks. During the construction period, a specific construction access would use the existing access to the main Hill Farm buildings further north on East Dundry Road, leading to a temporary construction compound.
Once built, access would be via the existing field accesses from East Dundry Road.
The facility would be remotely operated and monitored. Operational access would require around two trips a month for maintenance and cleaning purposes.
At the end of the 40-year operational lifespan, the decommissioning process would take approximately six months and the intention would be to restore the land..
The application states that on balance, the harm to the Green Belt, and any other harm, is “clearly outweighed” by the considerable public and wider environmental benefits arising from the proposed solar farm.
“As a result, it is considered that very special circumstances exist to support this proposed development in the Green Belt.”
The planning reference on the B&NES Council website is 25/02595/FUL and the deadline for comments is 14th August.
