County Councillors have joined local residents and representatives across Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to express their further disappointment and dismay that the proposal for a 2,700 acre development to create the largest solar farm in the UK was given permission by the Secretary of State, Ed Miliband, on Friday 12 July 2024. This decision to permit the scheme to go ahead comes despite the Planning Inspectorate’s recommendation to refuse the application.
Sunnica Ltd applied for planning permission to create a Solar Energy Farm with battery storage and 500 MW grid connection in 2021. Their proposed multi-site location covers land near Burwell, Isleham, Chippenham, Fordham, Kennett and Snailwell in East Cambridgeshire and extends into West Suffolk.
Due to the size of the proposed development, the Planning Inspectorate, rather than any local authority, examined Sunnica’s application and made their recommendation to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Councillors from all parties on Cambridgeshire County Council joined together at the July 2021 Full Council meeting to oppose Sunnica’s proposals. The project was also opposed by East Cambridgeshire District Council, Suffolk County Council and West Suffolk District Council as well as the area’s local MPs at the time and hundreds of local residents.
The County Council declared climate and nature emergencies in 2019. The authority outlined its support for responsible renewable energy creation in its Climate Change and Environment Strategy and is working on innovative projects to reduce carbon emissions across the area. However, the industrial scale of the development put forward by Sunnica and its multiple locations which encompass several villages raised serious concerns.
In representations at the public inquiry, the County Council highlighted the impact of the suggested development on the landscape, local biodiversity, and transport links in and around East Cambridgeshire.
Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Environment and Green Investment Committee, Councillor Lorna Dupre said: “It is deeply disappointing that the new Secretary of State has seen fit to overturn the recommendation of the Examining Authority. While we understand the new Government’s drive towards clean energy, this decision has been greeted with dismay by all of us locally who have opposed this misguided development.
“We have consistently and strenuously argued against Sunnica’s proposal and we highlighted the many reasons of planning principle a development of this sort should not go ahead at public inquiry. We continue to be particularly concerned about the huge environmental and economic impact of this scheme. Separately, we also took up the issue of the developer’s lack of engagement with the community directly with the previous government.
“What is especially hard to swallow, is the fact that the Government’s own planning inspectors recognised the blight on the local area – in terms of the visual impact, the effects on cultural heritage and the harm to the local economy. That the scale of this impact was made clear is a real credit to all those technical officers and community experts who came together to make the case against this scheme.
“We support responsible renewable energy creation and this Government’s drive to make the UK a superpower in clean energy but we take issue with the unprecedented scale of Sunnica’s ambitions, as well as their approach which led to a breakdown of trust and cooperation between the company and the eleven affected Parish Councils. The developer’s attitude dismayed politicians across the party divide and we came together to vote against the plans.
“We will need to carefully consider our next step, which will include discussions with the other host authorities."
