Plans for 73 acre Quorn solar farm with industrial units
Countryside area off Flesh Hovel Lane
PLANS for a massive 73 acre solar farm and industrial site in the Quorn countryside have been revealed.
The proposal, at Poole Farm, has been put forward by Leicestershire County Council. but its fellow local authority, Charnwood Borough Council, has opposed the scheme.
The borough says that the plan falls within an area of designated countryside and the county council has not submitted sufficient justification for its proposal.
The site is on land to the north of Quorn, just west of Barrowupon-Soar and at one point skirts the River Soar.
It consists of four separate parcels of land, two of which lie either side of Flesh Hovel Lane.
Part of it is also presently home to a number of allotments.
A total of 15 industrial units are planned, including six at Poole Farm
The other nine are proposed for the pocket of land, off Barrow Road, on the Barrow-upon-Soar side of the A6 - between the mini roundabout and the bypass.
The largest area of the site, around 67 acres, is for the proposed 10mw (megawatt)solar farm
Speaking on behalf of Leicestershire County Council, Carter Jonas, the agents for the application, state in the proposal the solar farm was expected to generate the electricity for the industrial units, but added that if there is an excess of power then that could possibly be exported to the general electricity distribution network.
In its objection letter to the proposal the planning department of Charnwood Borough Council points out that the development site: “Falls within an area designated as countryside.”
The planners add that there is:
“Insufficient justification for the location of the proposal, and it has not been demonstrated that the proposal could not reasonably be located within or adjacent to an existing settlement.”