Dorset County Council planning committee is being urged to overturn a recommendation by the Council’s Planning Officer to refuse permission for a major solar farm north east of Dorchester.
One of the UK’s leading clean energy solutions companies, Enviromena has successfully campaigned for a decision on the proposed array at Cruxton Farm near Maiden Newton to be decided by the planning committee.
The committee meets on November 4th but Enviromena has been told the Planning Officer’s recommendation to the committee is to refuse the application.
The local parish council has given Enviromena its full backing. A spokesperson for Maiden Newton Parish Council said: “We support the proposal for the solar farm at Cruxton. Given the current cost of living crisis and escalating electricity costs, this proposal will go some way to negate this by providing electricity to 4,800 homes per year. We hope that the planning committee will share our views.”
In the face of the biggest surge in household energy bills for more than 50 years, Enviromena is seeking permission to build a 40-acre 11.8 MW solar installation, which will be capable of providing clean power to thousands of homes every year, offsetting over 3,000 tonnes of carbon annually.
Back in late February, the Planning Officer, Emma Telford, informed Enviromena that she was finalising her report and would recommend that the project was refused
planning permission on grounds of visual impact and not meeting criteria for development in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Over the last 12 months Enviromena has made a significant investment in both management time and capital to ensure the site is acceptable to all stakeholders. These include National Highways, the local community, and Maiden Newton Parish Council who are all supportive of the application and the benefits it would bring to the area and local community – and yet the official’s recommendation to refuse remains the same.
New solar projects like this one, which can be both constructed and connected quickly, can help play a crucial role in providing clean energy alternatives to the grid which will, in turn, reduce dependence on both imported fossil fuels and their associated energy price volatility.
Enviromena’s CEO Cabell Fisher commented: “With the UK economy under serious pressure, the Cruxton Farm project can support local jobs and businesses during its expected construction phase from April to July of 2023. Enviromena’s stated philosophy is to always strive to leave the communities and places we touch in better condition than when we arrive.
“We have applied this philosophy directly to the Dorset planning officer’s concerns about visual impact in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. By way of example, Enviromena’s team has provided significant levels of screening in terms of landscaping around the perimeter of the proposed site with the sole purpose to protect and preserve the views of the AONB from nearby footpaths and vantage points.”
Speaking about the latest developments, Mark Harding, Enviromena’ s Europe Development Director, said: “The Planning Officer has stated that she is aware of the public and government agenda related to energy but that these are updates are yet to be made to planning policy. However, it should be noted that in terms of applications related to climate and energy security, planning policy does not need to be updated for these material considerations to be taken into account in the decision-making process.
“Furthermore, at its core, the Development Plan for the area is supportive of renewable energy development despite the fact that the plan was published in October 2015. Since 2015, the UK’s climate agenda has moved on significantly and its energy security has deteriorated, therefore both issues are obviously material to the determination of the planning application”.
The company says that the installation is not only vital to meet the Government’s sustainability targets but also makes an essential contribution to help secure the UK’s future
renewable energy supplies and to achieve Net Zero. It argues that this project near Maiden Newton has never been more relevant as conventional UK energy supplies face global threats and supply chain risks from incidents like the current war in the Ukraine.
Renewable energy is also a vital resource in tackling the rising cost of energy which is having a huge effect on household spending and contributing to high levels of inflation. In fact, there are now several articles in circulation stating these increased energy prices could put 10.5 million UK households, or roughly 1/3, into fuel poverty next year: fuel poverty occurs when energy costs drag household disposable income below the government’s official poverty line.
Mark Harding explained: “It is our view that renewable developments like Cruxton Farm are absolutely essential to both the local and national cause. This view, it seems, is shared by a local planning committee at neighbouring Hampshire where in Fleet in July, they voted unanimously 10-0 in favour of our application at Heckfield. We are encouraging Dorset Council’s Planning Committee members to make a similar judgement and grant planning approval for the scheme.”
