Solar Farm Application Refused

We get to keep our view and open countryside

There were sighs of relief in a packed public gallery when the majority of HBBC councillors voted against the controversial application to build a 16.4 acre solar panel farm on countryside adjacent to the recreation ground in Stoke Golding. This will come as a massive relief to the majority of villagers, both verbal and silent, who are against the scheme.

The discussion was once again intense and varied but it became abundantly clear that the councillors had been provided with excellent background information and that the options had been more thoroughly investigated following the previous planning meeting. The months delay in the decision had further ensured that councillors had the opportunity to make sure they were more fully informed. The additional knowledge that a recent similar case in Devon showing that the councillors could turn down the application and also potentially win following a subsequent appeal, was further valuable information to them.

When it came to the all-important vote, nine councillors were against the development and only three voted for it to go ahead. There were five abstentions from councillors who continue to be unsure which way they should vote on this landmark case. The villagers present were disappointed to note that Reg Ward (the local Borough Councillor and Chair of Stoke Golding Parish Council), voted for the application to proceed despite the Parish Council twice submitting a statement to HBBC backing the village action group SGCRAG in its objection to the solar farm.

It is clear that if the application had been passed this would have allowed Freetricity and other similar companies to push for further locations adjacent to villages around the country, thus cutting their ‘connection to the grid’ fees enormously.

The community action group, SGCRAG is indebted to the many councillors who supported them on the night but also to David Tredinnick MP, County-Councillor Ivan Ould, Cllr Michael Mullaney and Cllr Bill Crooks (through his responsibility for rural interests) who have taken much interest in this application. Their combined knowledge and support during an arduous journey through procedure has been invaluable and much appreciated. SGCRAG has worked extremely hard for the past five months to ensure as many people as possible were aware of the proposed development. This was achieved by holding information providing meetings in the village, information leaflets and an updated information blog and Facebook page.

The group has announced that it will continue to work together for the benefit of the community on other local projects in the village.

Finding your way around

If you live in Stoke Golding you should have received a leaflet which tells you what has been going on and what you can do. If you haven't seen the leaflet you can find it here. Hopefully this answers many of the question you might have, but there is a wealth of information around. This post is intended to help you find your way around the available information to help you make up your mind and formulate your comments

You will probably want to look at the latest plans. You can look at these on the Hinckley Council planning portal, but for convenience we have made them available through the "Documents" page of this website. On this page you will also find the reports we commissioned from a planning consultancy and a chartered landscape architect. The planning officers report which recommends approval will also be found here. They will have to rewrite this before the next planning committee meeting on 26th March.

The "Objections" page documents concerns that residents have expressed. We are focusing our case on visual impact and landscape character although there are still other outstanding issues. The leaflet contains some information on submitting comments which we urge you to do. You will find more guidance on the Objections page and the Contacts page contains further contact information. Finally the FAQs page contains responses to some of the questions we have been asked.

We really do now believe that we can win this battle. The last vote was very tight and we now realise that we can do more to better inform Councillors  This coupled with a final show of strength from the community may well be enough to win the day. So please do write in.

Thank you for you continued support.

Stop Press - Solar Farm not approved

Contrary to the previous post, the Solar Farm application is NOT approved.

For some time now, the Stoke Golding Concerned Residents  Action Group (SGCRAG) has been arguing that the public should have been reconsulted on revised plans to the screening proposals which were submitted in January (after the closing date for comments). This has been falling on deaf ears. However subsequent to the last planning committee meeting we found hard evidence that the council had not followed their own published procedures for public consultation and we raised an objection prior to the formal Decision Notice being issued. They have clearly concluded that we were right as they have now reopened the application for public comment.

HBBC have sent letters to everybody who had previously commented. The public now has until the 15th March to submit any further comments. The application will go back to the planning committee to be determined on 26th March.

Please do use this opportunity to comment or recomment. On the "documents" page of this blog you will find links to the latest application documents and you will also find reports from experts commissioned by SGCRAG. The "objections" page tells you how to comment.