Hotel set to install hundreds of solar panels

Plans to install nearly 900 solar panels in a field next to a hotel in Staffordshire have been given the go-ahead.

Bosses at The Tawny hotel in Consall, near Wetley Rocks, said the solar farm would produce enough renewable electricity to meet the estate's energy needs.

They will be required to plant hedges around the solar farm to screen it from nearby properties.

Local authority planning officers said the scheme's environmental benefits would outweigh any impact on the countryside.

The estate - which includes the hotel, wedding venue and camping pods – is situated within the greenbelt.

A total of 887 solar panels will be installed in a field next to the hotel's car park, along with a battery storage facility in a service yard.

According to the application, the solar panels will save around 50 tonnes of carbon emissions per year, the equivalent of planting 2,282 trees.

Local resident Sheila Penfold, whose home overlooks the estate, spoke in support of the plans but called for the council to ensure that effective screening was provided.

"The Tawny is not a sustainable development, and we would support any improvement in their environmental performance," she said.

"There's a high demand for energy, at present sourced from oil and gas."

She added: "We've suffered intrusive lighting and noise despite some planting to screen the row of camping pods which is directly in our line of sight.

"But we would not object to any measures that would improve the environmental performance of the property, which undoubtedly a solar array will provide."

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council's planning committee welcomed the proposals, saying the solar farm would be a "massive improvement" on a noisy diesel generator that they had seen during a site visit.

Councillor Keith Hoptroff said: "I'm in full support of this. I'd like to see more businesses do similar projects to this.

"[It] will probably reduce the need for large-scale solar farms and the controversy that comes with them."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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