Wycombe District council decision on proposed solar park in Buckinghamshire

In January Wycombe District Council received a proposal by energy firm Anesco to erect hundreds of solar panels on greenbelt land in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire. At the end of February this application was refused.
Anesco had stated that the plans were within planning policy criteria - as the solar park was to be built on a former landfill site within the land, with trees planted to mask any poor quality land. But Wycombe District Council concluded that the park would cause substantial harm to greenbelt land.
There no record to date of Anesco launching any appeal of the decision.
The application reference on the Wycombe District Council website is 15/07001/FULEA, for anyone wishing to get more information.

 

Is there a future for Solar Parks in the UK?


Applications – like the one mentioned above in Buckinghamshire - continue to be rejected due to concerns about their impact on views, protection of greenbelt and the effects on agricultural land. For example, last month saw the rejection of plans for a proposed solar park near Nempnett Thrubwell in Somerset. 
But solar farms are still proving a popular choice to generate energy in UK, championed by people aiming to help the UK become carbon neutral. Examples include:


Anglesey – proposed 


Plans are to be submitted to build on of the UK’s largest solar parks in the beautiful landscape of Anglesey which can generate 50MW - which is ten times the size of the proposed park in Little Marlow. This proposal follows Wales shifting from being a net exporter of electricity, to a net importer. The proposed Anglesey solar park would be enough to power around half the properties in Anglesey and is part of their Energy Island initiative, which promises to contribute nearly £15 billion to the Anglesey and North Wales’ economy over the next 15 years.


Isle of Wight - commissioned


A solar park that was proposed by Anesco, has been commissioned in the Isle of Wight and is set to generate 3.95MW. It is a community project, driven by Wight Community Energy (WCE) and it projects a 7% per annum return for its shareholders. It is also projected to earn £2.4million which will be returned for community projects to be determined by the shareholders who will be able to vote where the money can be invested on the island. The project gathered momentum following the finding that 15% of people on the Isle of Wight are subject to fuel poverty – having to choose between food or fuel. The project aims to reduce the carbon footprint of the Isle of Wight while supplying enough energy to power over 1300 homes.


Walton- on-Thames – near completion


As well as solar parks being developed on land, this month sees the completion of a giant floating solar park on a reservoir at Walton-on-Thames, which will help to generate the energy needed to provide clean water for 10 million greater London residents. The solar panels will cover approximately 6% of the reservoir and have been assessed as having no detrimental impact on the ecosystem.

 

Solar parks and local ecosystems


One reservation that people have about solar farms is their harmful effect on local ecosystems. This concern is being addressed by Anesco, who have this month announced a partnership with the RSPB to encourage more wildlife to inhabit its solar sites across the UK. This will provide an environment to encourage the survival of many threatened species of birds, insects, and small animal species. This is an important project as 60% of the UK’s species have decreased over the last 50 years in the event of agricultural intensification. The latest partnership to support wildlife comes following the successful projects around the country that have encouraged the bees and bats to thrive, such as Big60Million who have now started producing “Sunny Honey” on their solar parks.

 

Solar parks in partnership with rooftop solar PV


While there may be many benefits to solar farms, there will always be an issue with finding appropriate sites for their placement that do not affect beautiful UK landscapes. Solar panels on roof tops uses the same technology to produce energy albeit on a smaller scale, but without the caveats of large scale solar parks. Provided that rooftops are large enough and are exposed to enough sun, the many rooftops in the UK can provide a suitable partner to the solar parks and help the UK to decrease its carbon footprint, while protecting our beautiful countryside.