Solar farm green light

Proposal agreed for farmland near Thurlaston

A SOLAR energy park capable of powering 10.500 houses for a year is to be built on fields near Thurlaston despite objections from the farmer.

Planners at Blaby District Council said yes to plans for solar panels, sub stations, CCTV cameras, tracks and inverters to be installed across an 80 hectare site off Desford Road.

The solar panels will cover 53 hectares of the site and are expected to generate 36 mega watts of electricity, enough to power 10,500 houses for year. It is being treated as a temporary development. Planning bosses at Blaby District Council say the land will be returned to fields when the solar park is finished with. The company behind the development is Elgin Energy Esco Ltd. The company will run the solar farm from an office miles away with only occasional visits to the site.

The 18 fields to be used for the solar park are part of a farm run by a tenant farmer. The farm is a mix of livestock and arable. His family have farmed the land since 1947.

A letter sent to Blaby District Council on his behalf said the proposal would be catastrophically significant for his himself, the business and the family. The letter said the solar panels would take up so much space the farm would be turned into a large smallholding and it would be very difficult to make a living.

Planners say sheep could graze beside the solar panels but the farmer says the rows of panels would make it difficult to check stock.

An agricultural impact assessment says once the solar panels are in place it won’t be worth keeping arable farming equipment and the farmer will have to concentrate on cattle breeding and rearing.

The Blaby District Council planning report into the development concludes: “Having regard to all of the above matters and balancing the various local and national policies, and taking into account the statutory consultation replies, your officers are of the opinion that the proposed solar farm (in its revised and reduced form) constitutes “sustainable development” that will not significantly adversely affect the character and appearance of the local landscape, will not impact the setting of heritage assets, will not lead to the permanent loss of good quality agricultural land and presents an opportunity to enhance the sites bio-diversity.”