Solar farm planned for former landfill site

Plans for a large solar farm to be built at a former landfill site on green belt land near York have been recommended for approval.

K Smith applied for planning permission to put solar panels on the Harewood Whin site off Tinker Lane in Rufforth.

It would provide enough energy to power about 11,000 homes each year, according to a City of York Council report.

Planning officers have recommended that the scheme should go ahead at a meeting on Thursday but said the decision should be referred to the government because of the green belt designation.

The site opened as landfill in the 1980s but following the opening of Allerton Park Waste Recovery Park in 2018, it closed down.

Restoration of the area has been taking place since the closure, according to a report.

Under the plans, the solar farm would be in operation for 40 years.

The application has received no objections and 23 letters of support, according to the council.

The report said the scheme would "make a substantial contribution to atmospheric carbon reduction in the wider area".

Planning officers said: "It is felt that the clear environmental benefits when put in the context of the declared climate emergency, of generation of a significant quantity of renewable energy clearly outweighs the harm to the green belt and the localised harm to the adjoining landscape character."

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