Agenda item

Construction of a solar farm together with all associated works, equipment and necessary infrastructure

Land East of Burnt House Farm, Netherton Road, Bedlington

Construction of a solar farm together with all associated works, equipment and necessary infrastructure

Land East of Burnt House Farm, Netherton Road, Bedlington

K Tipple, Senior Planning Officer introduced the report with the aid of a power point presentation.  It was requested that an additional condition be added to any permission granted in relation to glint and glare as follows:-

“Prior to the installation of any solar photovoltaic panels, the site operator must provide contact details to the Local Planning Authority to be utilised in the event that the glare or glint of light from the development is causing detriment or annoyance within a residential dwelling or school in lawful existence at the time of this permission being granted. Over the lifetime of the development, should a Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) registered Environmental Health Officer determine that glare or glint from the development site is causing detriment to residential or educational amenity, within one month of being notified the operator shall submit to the Local Planning Authority for approval a scheme of mitigation to remedy the glare or glint which has been identified. Thereafter, the approved mitigation shall be installed and retained for the lifetime of the development.?

?Reason: To protect residential and educational amenity from harmful light in accordance with Policy POL 2 of the Northumberland Local Plan.”

J Selwyn, Managing Director of Bluefield Development addressed the Committee speaking in support of the application.  His comments included the following:-

·       The site visit undertaken the previous day had been welcome.

·       The Bluefield Group was a UK based business which developed, built and operated solar farms in the UK on behalf of the stock market listed Bluefield Solar Income Fund.  The Group employed 130 staff including field operative engineers operating from different sites around the Country.  The Fund had invested nearly £1billion in solar since its formation in 2013 and currently owned 107 UK solar projects with an aggregate capacity of 750 mw and in peak times in the summer provided 3% of the UK’s energy.

·       As the solar farms were owned and operated by the Group they sought to develop good relationships with local authorities and residents in those areas.

·       Solar power was required due to the climate emergency, cost of living and energy crisis and these were all linked by how energy was generated, supplied and used. There was an urgent requirement to generate electricity from new low cost, low carbon sources.  Solar was the lowest cost and quickest to deploy of all energy sources and was currently 1/9^th cost of gas and could be deployed in less than 1 or 2 years.

·       Solar was already making a difference in this Country and in June this year solar often provided up to 25% of the day time electricity and today an overcast day in November it was providing 8% of the UKs electricity. 

·       The Government’s energy security strategy proposed a 5 fold increase in solar by 2035 and this could only be achieved by deploying solar on both buildings and land.  According to the Government’s public attitude tracker solar was the most popular form of energy with 85% support across the Country and in a recent pole this had been broken down by wards and in Wansbeck 91% expressed support for solar with 87% stating that the Government should use wind and solar to reduce their energy bill.

·       The scheme was welcomed by local people with only 3 comments on the planning portal.

·       The location had been chosen due to the requirement for a viable grid connection, a site which was consistent with planning policy and a willing land owner and all 3 had been met at this location.  The land was 93% Grade B, which was not the most versatile land being a former open cast mining site and this would be the land back into use for a more sustainable source of energy production.  The land was well screened and had an advantageous topography, there were no statutory designations, there was a low impact on heritage, a very good access for construction, a low risk of flooding and it was believed it would have a positive impact on biodiversity and have an impact on local wildlife and would have minimum impact on footpaths.

·       It was proposed to continue agricultural use of the land by grazing sheep on the solar farm, which was currently done on 40% of the Groups farms and they were looking to expand on this.

·       Once the land was no longer needed for electricity production a bond would be put in place to decommission the solar farm and return the land to agricultural use.

·       In relation to food security and the risks from solar farms the Government’s food security task force advised that the biggest risk was from climate change with solar farms not identified as a risk.   There would be dual benefit on this land by retaining the agricultural use and providing energy production. 

·       The Group was committed to significant net biodiversity gain and were proposing a net gain of 60% in habitat units and 33% in hedgerow units. 

·       A unilateral undertaking would be provided committing funds for local projects and had pledged £350,000 for this project and they were working closely with West Bedlington Town Council in this respect.

In response to questions from Members the following information was provided:-

·       A S106 agreement was used to help mitigate and offset any dis-amenity or disturbance caused by particular developments.  In this instance no problems had been identified to stop officers recommending approval without such an agreement.  The £350,000 fund for local projects was the Company going above and beyond what was required and reflected its ethical values in giving back to the community.  Officers would work with the Company on defining a rational area in which the funds could be spent.

·       The timescale for the carbon reduction figures quoted were annual equivalents.

·       Details had been submitted in line with the DEFRA biodiversity net gain metric  and there were obligations through that and underpinned through the 2021 Environment Act for monitoring of habitats and managed on an ongoing basis.  The Biodiversity Management Plan for the site was included in the list of approved documents and was conditioned to ensure that the site was managed for biodiversity over the lifetime of the site, with reports being submitted to the LPA.

·       The majority of the equipment was able to be reused or recycled with 99% of the panels able to be recycled and contained no rare metals.

·       Whilst the noise of rain on the panels would possibly be audible if you were standing next to them there was quite a separation distance to the nearest residential properties and officers were not aware of any issues with noise at other schemes around the Country.  If there were concerns in relation to noise from solar farms then there would be Government guidance. 

·       In relation to the size of the proposed solar farm this reflected the topography and natural constraints of the site.  If the scheme was larger in terms of power output then the scheme would fall to be determined by Government as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP).

·       Airports were statutory consultees as they used regular, precise routes and carried a large number of passengers, others such as Police and Air Ambulance did not use regular flightpaths and therefore any impact developments might have could not be modelled.

Councillor Robinson proposed acceptance of the recommendation to approve the application in line with the report with the additional condition related to glint and flare as outlined above, which was seconded by Councillor Darwin.

Members considered that this site was of average size for a solar farm and on a well screened site.  It was highlighted that panels were designed to absorb and not reflect light and the only noise associated with solar was the noise of the cooling fans for the invertors.

A vote was taken on the proposal to approve the application as outlined with the additional condition in relation to glint and flare and it was unanimously

RESOLVED that the application be GRANTED for the reasons and with the conditions as outlined in the report and the additional condition related to glint and glare.