An inspector appointed by the Secretary of State is being asked to overturn Bath & North East Somerset Council’s decision to refuse permission for a major solar farm at Burnett.
The council’s planning committee rejected Conrad Energy (Developments) II Ltd’s scheme for the 28.2-hectare site, despite the local authority having declared a climate emergency.
The solar farm would generate enough electricity to power 5,763 homes and increase the renewable energy being generated in the area by two-fifths.
The proposed site is known as Parcel 1643 Middlepiece Lane and is currently in agricultural use and in the Green Belt.
It is also bounded by the B3116 Burnett Hill and Gypsy Lane and is about 2.5 km south west of the Cotswolds Natural Landscape.
The council received 41 objections citing concerns including the loss of agricultural land and the impact on the Green Belt, landscape and ecology, as well as potential flood risk.
Six letters of support were received, citing renewable energy, continued dual use with agriculture and limited local impact.
The area proposed to be covered by solar panels is approximately 18 hectares with other parts of the site supporting infrastructure and biodiversity enhancements.
Fields under the panels would be used for sheep grazing, and the applicant has said the project is fully reversible, and after 40 years, the land would benefit from increased biodiversity and an improved eco-system.
Ward councillor Duncan Hounsell had asked for the application to be considered and determined by the planning committee, whatever the recommendation of the case officer, because of the size of the application and local, regional, and national public interest.
The planning report from council officers said significant weight is given to the need for renewable energy, locally and nationally but in this case, with the site location and scale of the development, the harm to the Green Belt and landscape would not be outweighed by the benefits identified.
The planning committee agreed and refused the plans last autumn, saying very special circumstances did not exist to clearly outweigh the harm that would be caused to the Green Belt by the inappropriate development; it would also result in “significant harm” to the landscape, and have adverse visual impacts on the local environment that could not be mitigated satisfactorily.
Now Conrad Energy (Developments) II Ltd, the UK’s largest flexible power producer with more than 950MW of power generation across 80 sites and a development pipeline of nearly 2GW, has lodged an appeal.
It “strongly disagrees” with the officer’s recommendation of refusal and the decision of the committee to reject the application.
The developer says the availability of suitable alternative potential development sites was “considered very carefully” and the site at Middlepiece Lane should be classed as ‘Grey Belt’, and therefore cannot be considered to be inappropriate development in the Green Belt.
Designating land as Grey Belt allows development in less significant areas of the Green Belt.
The developer has drawn up a list of suggested conditions for the planning inspector to consider should they decide to overturn the council’s decision.
