Parish council opposes Yapton solar farm

At a special planning meeting on Tuesday, councillors objected to the plans, four to one, on the grounds they departed from the development plan, would be difficult to access for heavy goods vehicles, and would cause damage to the environment.

Councillors and members of the public also suggested the fact the solar farm would be buiilt on a site that is grade one agricultural land should be held against the application.

The council’s views will be fed to Arun District Council, which will ultimately make the decision on whether the scheme should be granted planning permission.

Concerns were raised that Drove Lane could not cope with heavy goods vehicles travelling up and down it during the construction phase of the solar farm.

Chairman Andy Faulkner said: “When they do the servicing of the park the vehicles are going to use Drove Lane as a car park.”

The 14.5 mega-watt installation on an 86 acre site at Bilsham Farm would generate enough power for 5,000 homes.

The Langmead Group is behind the plans, with green energy company BNRG installing the solar farm on the group’s behalf.

A planning statement on the Langmead Group’s behalf says the solar farm could be constructed and generating energy within three months.

The Langmead Group has argued the money from a solar farm would allow it to make investments in other parts of its agricultural land holdings.

Its subsidiary, Natures Way Foods, employs around 500 people.

Councillors said they were in favour of solar energy but felt there were better sites for a scheme of its kind.

The planning statement had suggested views from public footpaths could be affected during the construction of the solar farm.

But during the meeting there were no objection made, from councillors or the public, on the grounds of its appearance or the effects it would have on views.

It also emerged at the meeting that there are potentially an additional three solar farms in the pipeline for Arun.

The meeting heard a planning applicationscould be submitted for a 15 megawatt solar farm in Rookery Farm, Felpham, with the possibility of two other applications in Bersted and the boundary of Yapton.