Anti-Sunnica solar farm group worried over 'challenge culture' comments
Sir Keir Starmer wants to give less chance to opponents to 'frustrate growth'
Last updated 24th Jan 2025
A campaigner fighting plans to build one of Europe's biggest solar farms on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border believes the Government must not stop legal challenges against projects like these.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said there will be less chance for opponents of major infrastructure projects to "frustrate growth" because of repeated judicial reviews.
Sir Keir also wants to end a "challenge culture" that has seen projects such as roads and wind farms delayed by bids for a legal challenge.
Last year, plans drawn up by Sunnica to build a 2,500-acre solar farm were passed by the Government before a legal challenge against the move was dropped.
Government 'not interested in listening'
"Nobody wants processes that are very lengthy and very costly," Catherine Judkins, chair of the Say No To Sunnica group, said.
"But it does feel at the moment like anybody who cares about their environment and speaks out against a project that they're (the Government) not interested in listening."
Sir Keir's comments come before his pledge before the general election to put the Government on the side of "builders, not blockers", as Labour aims to improve Britain's infrastructure to securing economic growth.
The Government has committed to making 150 major infrastructure project decisions by the next election.
It also follows a 2024 review by planning lawyer Lord Charles Banner, who recommended streamlining the judicial review process so claimants had "fewer bites of the cherry" when seeking permission to bring a case.
Communities 'should have their voices heard'
"There is a lot of time and effort required in terms of understanding the process, so in our experience, it's not something a campaign group would go into slightly and something you'd do as a means of frustrating growth," Ms Judkins said.
"Multiple experts commented on the harm it (Sunnica's plans) would do to the economy, the environment, and it does feel very wrong those expert planning examiners can recommend a project does not go ahead and that they are easily overruled.
"In most cases, the people speaking out against a given project are people who care very much about their environment, their community and it's entirely right they should have their voices heard."
Sunnica have previously said that the solar farm would make "a nationally significant contribution" towards the UK reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
According to the Government, more than half of decisions on nationally significant infrastructure projects were taken to court, causing an average delay of 18 months and adding millions to costs.