Planners approve solar farm despite green belt fears
Getty ImagesA solar farm that could power more than 13,000 homes has been approved in the Cambridgeshire countryside despite fears it could harm the green belt.
The 74-hectare (183-acre) development at Low Fen Drove Way in Horningsea would also include a battery energy storage facility and would run for 40 years, after which developer Innova Renewables said the site would be restored to agricultural use.
South Cambs District Council officers said they considered the land to be grey belt – a site considered to make only a limited contribution to the green belt.
An agent for Innova said the scheme had "significant benefits" and would support "local and national renewable energy and decarbonisation targets".
Greater Cambridge Shared PlanningAnna Bradnam, Liberal Democrat ward councillor for neighbouring Milton and Waterbeach, said that although the scheme was described as temporary, "40 years is half a lifetime".
"I respect the officers' view, but regret that the green belt protections which used to be so strong have been eroded by this concept of grey belt," she said.
"I believe this development would have a degrading and industrialising impact on the countryside in this area. How can 74 hectares of glass and metal for 40 years be considered a minor adverse impact?"
Fellow Lib Dem Vivien Biggs said: "I think we have to be pragmatic, and obviously anybody having something like this in their back yard is not going to be particularly happy.
"It's not beautiful, but we also know we don't own the view unless we own the land."
Conservative Heather Williams, of The Mordens ward on the other side of Cambridge, said that planning was about "trade-offs" and there would never be a "perfect solution".
"There's merit for it in its objectives but, in my view, there's a lot of policies it comes into conflict with," she said.
"I think we need more renewable energy and I 100% understand why farming communities are looking to things like solar in the current situation – but there are alternative places."
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The developer's agent told the council's planning committee, which approved the scheme four votes to one, that the authority had "declared a climate emergency in 2019 and this year's climate and nature strategy committed to a 50% reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050 for area-wide emissions".
"This is well evident in the climate conditions we're seeing across the UK and Europe this week."
Concerns had been raised about the impact on nearby Grade II listed Biggin Abbey.
The proposed solar farm is also next to a site where the sewage treatment works in Cambridge were due to be relocated. However, the future of that scheme is now unclear.
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