Controversial Lime Down Solar Farm plans lodged
A decision is expected in the next three weeks
Plans to built a sprawling ‘solar factory’ across miles of Wiltshire countryside have been submitted.
Lime Down Solar Park Limited wants to build a 500 megawatt solar farm to the north of the M4 near Malmesbury. They say it would produce enough renewable energy to power 115,000 homes.
If permitted, the development would cover an area four miles wide and two miles deep. The solar panels would stand at 4.5 metres tall – the height of a double decker bus, and a UK-first.
A number of battery storage systems would be built as part of the scheme. One would be the height of a five-storey building.
A 20km cable to the substation at Melksham would require a corridor 60 metres wide. It would pass under the M4 and the Bristol-to-London railway line.
Wiltshire councillors, who will not get a chance to vote on the proposals, have described it as a ‘solar factory’ and criticised the ‘industrial’ nature of the plans.
Due to the scale of the project it is deemed a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and planning permission will ultimately be granted or refused by Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband.
During a meeting in July to discuss the plans Martin Smith, the councillor for Sherston – one of the villages that would be enveloped by the solar scheme along with Hullavington and Stanton St Quintin – said it would “create an industrialised landscape to evolve into a permanent scar on the county’s countryside.”
He said Lime Down is “no ordinary solar farm” and had particular ire for the developer’s owner, Macquarie Group, which he said: “pretty much plundered £4 billion from Thames Water, effectively bankrupting them,” and for the nine landowners – some aristocrats – who will “benefit massively”.
This week the Planning Inspectorate confirmed it had received an application from Lime Down Solar Park Limited.
The Planning Inspectorate will now decide if it can accept the application for examination. This decision is expected by October 17.
The application will then go through a number of stages – which will probably take more than a year – before construction work can start:
Pre-examination: One or more inspectors will be appointed to look at the proposal.
Anyone who wants to have their say needs to register at this stage. The pre-examination stage usually takes about three months.
Examination: The examining authority looks at the proposed project and asks questions. The applicant, anyone who is registered to have their say, official bodies, and people whose land is directly affected can comment on the proposed development. This stage takes up to six months.
Recommendation: A written report is prepared and sent to the Secretary of State within three months of the end of the examination stage.
Decision: The Secretary of State then reviews the report and makes the final decision. They have three months to do so.
The Secretary of State’s decision is not the end of the matter, as challenges can be made to the High Court. The High Court will decide if there are grounds for a judicial review.