Huge solar farm would cover area the size of 155 football pitches
BUT OBJECTORS SAY OPEN LAND WOULD BE ‘RUINED’
PLANS have been submitted for a colossal solar farm covering hundreds of acres of Derbyshire farmland.
The application, submitted to Amber Valley Borough Council by Cornish firm Kronos Solar, would see 310 acres of solar panels constructed in fields above Alfreton and over towards Oakerthorpe.
It would cover land the size of 155 football pitches and joins other plans nearby for a further 120-acre solar farm in fields directly to the east of Alfreton Sewage Treatment Works.
In papers filed with the application and in its website, Kronos Solar says the site could retain grazing sheep, between the solar panels, grow hay and keep honey bees.
If approved, the development would be split across a main plot above Alfreton Park Community Special School and Alfreton Hall, and a smaller plot just to the east of Shirland Golf Club. A substation would be constructed off the
B6025, opposite the
Alfreton Sewage Treatment Works.
The site would generate 49.9 megawatts of electricity each year, enough to power 11,500 homes, Kronos Solar says.
It hopes to start construction next year, if planning permission is approved, with the site operational from summer 2022. The firm hopes to keep it in place for 40 years, until summer 2055, after which it will be dismantled and returned to agricultural land.
Fencing, several metres tall, would be installed to keep deer out of the solar farm.
Kronos Solar says: “The use of this land for solar energy along with the continued agricultural use by the grazing of sheep coupled with biodiversity and landscaping enhancements should be considered an acceptable development proposal as there will be no loss of any higher-grade agricultural land.
“The benefits of delivering renewable energy are substantial and far reaching, both for current and future generations.
“The UK has ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and moving towards a low carbon society. The only realistic way these aims can be achieved is if a huge amount of renewable energy is deployed, and at present the UK is falling behind on its obligations in this respect, which makes the need for new renewable energy to be deployed ever the more urgent.”
The firm comments on how the borough council declared a climate emergency in July 2019 and as such “will ultimately lead the council to set priorities that favour solar developments and alike”.
It says bat roosting and bird nesting boxes will be installed on retained trees on the sites and that Alfreton Brook would be safeguarded. It says the land is low-grade agricultural land and would be difficult to use without the use of “large amounts of fertilisers, herbicides and other chemicals”. A number of residents have already submitted objection letters to the council. Their details are redacted.
One resident wrote: “Something on this scale is totally wrong. This development would surely take away from the enjoyment of what countryside walks we have left around Alfreton.” Another resident wrote: “Open land in Alfreton is being swallowed up. We are told by the Government (due to Covid restrictions) to exercise locally and yet Alfreton Park and the surrounding area is continually under threat.
“These decisions are irreversible and our children will have no open countryside within their town boundaries.”
Another objector stated: “The beautiful countryside, wildlife, home to deer and other inhabitants will be lost and ruined in beautiful Derbyshire. The views and scenic fresh air and area for so many to walk and relax and nature to blossom will be taken away.”
Another wrote: “This development would amount to an act of desecration upon the beautiful rural landscape west of Alfreton which encompasses some of the finest views in the locality over the Amber Valley.”
This development would amount to an act of desecration upon the beautiful rural landscape. Objector