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Lincolnshire county councillor says Heckington Fen and West Burton solar farm approvals are ‘trashing the countryside’ and ‘a slap in the face for Lincolnshire’




A leading county councillor has said the Government’s decision to pass two large scale solar farms is a ‘slap in the face for Lincolnshire’.

Colin Davie, executive councillor for environment, economy and planning at Lincolnshire County Council, has reacted angrily to announcements today that applications for both the Heckington Fen Solar Park and the West Burton Solar Project, have been granted development consent by Ed Miliband.

The Government says the benefits outweigh the impact of both schemes and says they will power hundreds of thousands of homes. These are just the latest two schemes to be considered, with large-scale developments such as Mallard Pass also set to be constructed in the coming years and a series of plans being lodged right across the county.

Coun Colin Davie. Photo: James Turner
Coun Colin Davie. Photo: James Turner

Coun Davie said: “Adding two more giant solar farms to Lincolnshire’s countryside, which have strong local opposition, shows that this government has not listened to our residents.

“These two developments add more than 1000 hectares of solar parks to the county, bringing the total land now allocated for 5 approved developments to around 3500 hectares. A further 6400 hectares are also being proposed in Lincolnshire.

“Trashing the countryside and putting ginormous industrial developments on agricultural land has understandably caused much local outrage. On top of this, I have no confidence that these schemes help in any way to delivering the affordable energy that we need.

"Quite frankly these decisions are another slap in the face for Lincolnshire, and the government must start considering the cumulative impacts of all these proposals in our county. In our recent survey, residents have told us that they are very concerned about the impacts that so many Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects will have on Lincolnshire, and the effects on our nature, landscape and communities. They also told us that they - like us - consider rooftops and brownfield sites being the most appropriate places to install solar panels. We must stop the industrialisation of the Lincolnshire countryside."

On December 5 2023, Lincolnshire County Council’s executive approved an Energy Infrastructure position statement, which outlined how the council will respond to applications such as this as it pushes to protect agricultural land and prevent developments ‘blighting the landscape’.

What do you think? Is Coun Davie right? Or do you support solar farm developments? Let us know your views in the comments below…



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