Rutland County Council planning officers say benefits of Staveley Solar Park by Anglian Water and TotalEnergies outweigh negative impact

An energy farm made up of more than 80,000 solar panels should be approved despite more than 200 objections, planning officers at Rutland County Council say.

The proposed renewable energy scheme at Staveley Farm has been controversial since applicants Bluestone Wing 1 Ltd submitted the application in March. The farm would mainly power the Anglian Water works at nearby Wing and the remaining power (about ten per cent) would go into the national grid. More than 87,000 solar panels would be erected across 12 fields on the agricultural land. French multinational TotalEnergies is proposing the scheme in partnership with the water firm and they say construction will take 12 months and the solar farm will be in operation for 40 years.

In spite of widespread objections, including from nearby parish councils, the planning officers are recommending the planning committee green lights the proposal when it meets on Thursday (December 7).

In their report, the officers say a number of different planning matters have been considered and have come out as two having positive impacts and five having negative impacts. However, weighting given to each item has meant the positive impacts are more significant than the detrimental effects.

Government and local policy on renewable energy is considered by Rutland as the planning consideration which carries the most ‘significant weight’.

The report says “. . .it is clear that there is a substantial level of support for renewable and low-carbon energy developments in both national and local planning policy. The Framework is unequivocal in stating that such developments should be approved if their impacts are or can be made acceptable. Local Planning Policy set out in policies CS20 and SP18 is equally clear that such developments will be supported where their impacts can be satisfactorily addressed.”

Another positive in the view of the planning officers is the improvements to the biodiversity of the site if the application goes ahead. Rather than impacting the biodiversity negatively as many against the proposal have suggested, the report says the development will enhance the site. It says the main impact could be on foraging and nesting birds but the majority would be in the field boundary vegetation and woodland which could be protected by buffer zones.

It says: “The proposed on-site units following the proposed interventions result in a total of 231.24 habitat units, 64.40 hedgerow units and 0 watercourse units. This represents a 31.31% net gain in habitat units, 56.78% gain in hedgerow units, and no change in watercourse units. The biodiversity enhancements resulting from the development therefore go beyond the required minimum of 10%.”

A suggestion the solar farm should be determined at national level instead of locally due has been disregarded by the planning officers, as the applicant has said at maximum the farm could generate 49.9MW of energy. Farms that generate 50MW are decided at a national level.

Objections made by local residents and listed in the planning report include the impact on the local area, loss of farmland, noise, and an impact on tourism.

Planning matters where the officers concluded some parts of the scheme would have a negative impact include were on the residential amenities, the visual landscape and agricultural land quality, the nearby heritage assets and the siting of the farm. But all of the negative impacts have been judged by the officers to have limited impact, except for the impact on the heritage assets which were judged as moderate.

The nearby villages of Wing and Morcott have a number of listed buildings and are part of a conservation area, however despite viewing the application Historic England said it did not wish to comment.

The authority’s conservation officer had a number of reservations and the report cites: “The nature of the proposal would be at odds with the prevailing rural character of the area, both in visual terms and in how the site links into the natural, cultural and historic landscape elements of the wider area, altering fundamentally the wider rural setting of numerous designated heritage assets and intruding on currently unfettered field patterns. “

But after weighing up all the planning considerations the planning officers said: “The overall harm on the historic environment is assessed as ‘less than substantial’, and the temporary nature of the proposal is also acknowledged in terms of the impact on the Heritage Assets being reversible in nature.”

The recommendation will be a blow to campaigners against the development, however the council committee could decide to rule against.

At the last planning meeting the committee rejected their officers advice and decided to grant an application for a day centre in an Oakham industrial unit.

The Labour government approved another large solar farm at Mallard Pass at Essendine shortly within days of coming into power in July.