'Contentious' solar farm plans approved

Plans for a new solar farm in Rutland have been approved.

Rutland County Council's planning committee backed a plan by Anglian Water and TotalEnergies for more than 87,000 solar panels on farmland at Staveley Farm, Pilton.

More than 200 letters of objection were sent to the council about the scheme, which the water company says will help it achieve carbon-zero targets.

The decision was passed at a meeting on Thursday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The green light follows the government's decision to approve the Mallard Pass scheme on the Rutland-Lincolnshire border as a national infrastructure project.

Planning officer Nick Thrower told the committee all material planning considerations had been weighed, with the conclusion being that despite some drawbacks the solar farm should be approved.

The meeting heard that with this approval, the amount of land in the county to be covered by solar panels is equal to the size of Rutland Water.

Speaking against the development, Liberal Democrat Andrew Johnson said as it would sit on a hill, the energy farm - which will take up 220 acres - will be seen from a great distance.

"This is a very large and contentious application and it has generated something in the region of 220 objections, which is enormous," he said.

"Officers have recommended approval based on a balance of all considerations, this means you can interrogate and disagree with the balance and I would ask you to be very careful about some of the phrases that are used and some of the evidence that is quoted because I would disagree with quite a lot of it.

"There is a summary of the balance at the back and the conclusion is that there are two positives, eight neutrals and five negatives. I don't quite see how a positive approval comes out."

Conservative councillor Giles Clifton said he was also against the plan, claiming it will impact valuable landscape and is a "utilitarian form of development".

However, Conservative member David Wilby said the Pilton farm was "a neat little package" compared to Mallard Pass, which on balance he would find difficult to refuse.

Labour's Steve McRobb said he thought the matter was "very finely balanced" but came down in favour of it.

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