Sunnica solar farm plans 'deeply frustrating' for campaigners 18 months on
Building has not yet started since the plans were approved
A campaign group feels their worries aren't being heard by the developer behind a massive solar farm on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border.
Sunnica has said the scheme would span 2,500 acres across three different sites and power 172,000 homes in a bid to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
But 18 months since the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) approved the plans, no construction has taken place.
"Because the Government's own inspectors recommended it should've been rejected, we know there were quite a number of planning conditions associated with the eventual consent that need to be worked through before construction can begin," Catherine Judkins from Say No to Sunnica said.
"It's deeply frustrating but we continue to campaign to make sure planning conditions will be well-scrutinised."
'Timeline' to be confirmed
Sunnica is planning to make amendments to the plans, including "extending the order limits to include additional land at the Burwell National Grid Substation", through a non-material change application (NMC).
The original proposals included the building of solar photovoltaic panels across several fields and each site would be connected to each other by underground cables that link to Burwell substation.
The NMC ensures that the project can connect into Burwell Substation as planned, following the extension of this substation (now built) by approximately two hectares (4.9 acres) of additional land," a spokesperson for Sunnica said.
"The NMC would include this additional landinto the order limits.
"No construction has commenced yet, (but) we'll be in a better position to confirm timeline once we have a decision on the NMC application."
An open consultation on the changes closes on January 16.
“Large-scale projects, such as Sunnica solar farm, often need to complete a range of post-consent work before starting construction," a DESNZ spokesperson said.
“We have approved enough clean energy projects to power the equivalent of more than 7.5 million homes, helping get us off fossil fuels and deliver energy security so we can bring bills down for good.”
Scheme like 'a Trojan horse'
Councillor Richard Rout, cabinet member at Suffolk County Council, has previously described the Sunnica solar farm scheme as "a Trojan horse.
"A devious way of introducing even more infrastructure into our county which is lucrative only for the developer and landowners while our communities and landscape pay a heavy price."
In November last year when the amendments were first made public, Ms Judkins said any further development "over and above this already significant industrialisation of the area will be really hard to swallow."
She feels there is still uncertainty amongst local communities if the original plans are changed to include more land.
But Ms Judkins believes little thought has been given by Sunnica to those who will be mostly affected by the plans.
"They were told from the outset for example that one of the sites they've chosen is a site of a war grave, but they still carried on including it in the scheme," she added.
"They've (Sunnica) never particularly shown a huge amount of concern for the way residents feel about this highly-damaging scheme."