Solar farm powering 16,600 homes expected to get green light

A solar farm capable of powering 16,600 homes a year could be built at a disused airfield under plans to be decided next week.

The proposals relate to 52 hectares of land at the former airfield in Eaton Upon Tern, near Market Drayton.

Shropshire Council planners say the scheme should be approved, but the application has proved controversial with objections received from local councillors and 19 members of the public, plus a 38-name petition against the development.

However a report by planning officer Kelvin Hall says the plans have also received 18 letters of support, as well as the backing of the council’s climate change task force.

The applicant, Eaton-Upon-Tern Solar Ltd, says the 49 megawatt (MW) array of panels would be in place for up to 40 years, after which the land would be returned to agricultural use.

The company says 70 people attended a community engagement event and changes have been made to the proposals to reflect the concerns of locals, including additional screening and amendments to the construction traffic routing to avoid the village of Childs Ercall.

Despite this, Stoke Upon Tern Parish Council has objected to the scheme along with neighbouring Childs Ercall Parish Council.

Stoke Upon Tern councillors expressed “serious concerns” over the potential for contamination to the local water supply, and the proximity of the panels to neighbouring houses.

These concerns were echoed by Childs Ercall Parish Council, which covers part of the access road, which also said the solar farm would impact the landscape and said there was no clear plan for restoring the land once it is decommissioned.

In a further joint statement, the two parish councils said an “provision for meaningful community benefit” should be implemented as a condition of the development if it is approved, such as an agreement to provide a solar power system to both village halls.

The joint statement said: “This would be appropriate in terms of the development proposed, would represent a tiny fraction of the overall scheme in terms of output and cost, would presumably be an insignificant incidental in the installation process and would provide real local benefit to both communities.”

Shropshire Council’s climate change task force supported the application, on the grounds that the solar farm “would contribute 49MW towards the approximate total of 5,000MW required to make the county self-sufficient in renewable energy”.

Mr Hall’s report says: “Officers consider that the proposal would provide significant environment benefits and an important contribution towards meeting local and national targets on reducing harmful carbon emissions.”

The report goes on to say the developers are proposing a “substantial landscaping scheme” which would “more than compensate” for the loss of some trees from the site, adding that the works would result in a “biodiversity net gain” of 27.2 per cent.

Mr Hall says the temporary loss of agricultural land is a negative aspect of the scheme, but concludes that this is outweighed by the benefits.

The application will be decided by the council’s northern planning committee at a meeting next Tuesday.