Shropshire MP calls for Angela Rayner to intervene over Lilleshall solar farm issue
Any forthcoming planning application would need to be accompanied by various other assessments but not an EIA.
A Shropshire MP has called for secretary of state Angela Rayner to intervene after council planners decided not to require a developers to submit major assessment of a proposed solar farm.
Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard says the site between Newport and Telford at Lilleshall is “an unsuitable site for a solar farm” and wants developers to complete a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
EIAs are major pieces of specialist work for developers but Telford & Wrekin Council decided that an EIA is not required in this case.
Mr Pritchard said: “Most people in the UK accept that renewable energy will increasingly play an important part in diversifying the UK’s energy supplies and improving the UK’s energy security.
“Renewables also play a vital part in reducing climate change.
“However, any renewable site should be located in the right place and at the right scale.
“The Lilleshall proposal fits none of these important criteria.
“It is an unsuitable site for a solar farm.”
Mr Pritchard added that he will “continue to work closely with Councillor Andrew Eade on this important issue.
“I have raised this site at the very highest level of government, but I still hope
Telford & Wrekin Council will stop this proposal from going ahead.”
Lilleshall’s borough councillor Andrew Eade said: “I greatly welcomed the intervention of Local MP, Mark Pritchard, who has confirmed his opposition to the unwanted and disastrous Lilleshall solar farm proposal and written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government calling for her to require the scheme to have a full EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) before the submission of a formal planning application and consideration by any planning committee.”
A spokesperson for Telford & Wrekin Council said: “Following a screening opinion request submitted by the developers, planning officers have concluded that a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is not required for the proposed solar farm.
“Should a planning application be submitted, the site’s location and scale, along with all material planning considerations and representations both in support of and opposition to the proposal, will be assessed through the normal planning process, unless the council is directed otherwise.”