People power blocks solar panels plan for fields where DH Lawrence walked
A DERBYSHIRE council has rejected plans for a solar farm which would have stretched across hundreds of acres of open countryside after hundreds of people objected to the project.
The plans, from Kronos Solar, were rejected by Amber Valley Borough Council’s planning board by a near-unanimous vote.
Councillors felt the plans, across fields from Alfreton to Shirland and across to Oakerthorpe, were simply too large and in the wrong place, preferring solar panels to be on industrial buildings and on brownfield land. The panels would have covered an area equivalent to around 150 football pitches.
Cllr Dave Wells, Green Party, reminded the board that he had tried to make the installation of solar panels on industrial buildings an issue which the authority would push all developers to do, but this had been voted down.
Councillors felt that the impact on the landscape was too great and outweighed the benefit of the solar farm itself, said to have been capable of powering 11,500 homes – three times the number of households in Alfreton.
Council officers also felt the same way due to the “magnitude” of the scheme, which would have remained on the site for 40 years.
Residents, who submitted more than 750 objection letters, said they support renewable energy generation but this site and scale were not acceptable.
At the meeting on Monday, a spokesperson for the developer said it was a missed opportunity to take words on climate change and turn them into action.
Four residents, including the chair of governors at Alfreton Park Community Special School, spoke against the plans.
John Glasby, chair of governors at the special school next to the site, said the school was set to move to new £12 million premises next to its current site and he felt “betrayed by the possibility of an industrial installation” next door.
Mr Glasby said the outdoor areas at the new site had been set up so children could have a few minutes to themselves in peace if something had triggered their emotions. This, he said, would not be possible if there was the persistent hum of background noise from the solar farm. The council’s pollution officer said there was no evidence before them to say sound would prove intolerable.
Mr Glasby said: “There is nowhere in the world where a solar farm has been built so close to a school such as ours. The parents are right to be concerned.”
Jamie Selby, who lives in the closest property to the site with his three young children, said he and his family had moved to their home as part of a dream to live in
the countryside – a dream he felt would be quashed if the solar farm was approved.
He said: “This would be a gross intrusion into our life. We would be left looking out at a sea of plastic and glass, taking us unwillingly into the middle of a power plant.”
Mr Selby felt the loss of their view would impact his family’s physical and mental health, saying: “My children’s wellbeing should not be gambled away.”
Richard Marsden, an Alfreton resident, said the footpaths from Alfreton to Shirland showed their real value during the pandemic as ways in which residents could relieve their stresses by walking in the countryside.
He said: “This is the last open countryside left around Alfreton. It will become little different to walking through an industrial estate.”
Mr Marsden also said the path through the proposed site was clearly that which author DH Lawrence references in his 1913 novel Sons and Lovers.
Peter Milner, an objecting resident, said the impact of the plans on the environment far outweighed the case for allowing an “industrialised solar array”. He claimed it would be a human tragedy if the scheme was allowed and the view from the community had been “very loud and very clear”.
Cllr Valerie Thorpe, one of the ward councillors, said the proposals were monstrous and she had never seen a planning application more out of keeping with the area.
She said a nearby farm would “likely be surrounded by solar panels as far as the eye can see” and that the “loss of tranquillity would be catastrophic” for pupils at the neighbouring special school.
Cllr Thorpe said: “The public footpaths will be nothing more than fenced in tunnels if this application is approved.”
She read out a letter from Amber Valley MP Nigel Mills, which detailed that he objected to the scheme saying “in the right place a solar farm would be an asset, but this is not such a place”.
Cllr Jack Brown said: “We need to cut the emissions down...but that piece of land is of better use for agriculture and walking land. We need to find spaces to put these things. They should be put on industrial buildings, so many are being built and I don’t think anybody would notice them.”
Cllr Wells said he was conflicted about the application due to the benefit of enough annual electricity to power three times the homes in Alfreton against the landscape impact.
He asked the developer to come back with a reduced plan which would take away the “tunnel” effect of walking down the footpath through the proposed site.
Rae Gee, a council planning officer, said it was the strength of objections from key officials and the scale of the scheme which tipped the balance towards refusal, saying: “I think you would be wrong to say there isn’t any harm.”
Cllr Eileen Hamilton said the money offered by the developer to community groups was a welcome step but not enough to outweigh the impact of a scheme of this size and the “inconvenience” and “disruption” it would cause.
Will Savage, speaking on behalf of Kronos Solar, said the borough took the “bold” step in 2019 to declare a climate emergency but now “words must become action”.
He said the scheme had been reduced by a quarter and the firm has offered to contribute £10,000 a year to local community projects,
Mr Savage said: “The harm is limited, temporary and in our view outweighed by the significant public benefit.”
He said turning the application down risked undermining the need to act on climate change.