Lancaster University submits plan for solar farm next to M6

A university's plan for a solar farm alongside a motorway will help its aim "to become carbon neutral by 2035", a council has been told.

Lancaster University wants to build a 50-acre facility off Hazelrigg Lane, close to both its campus and the M6.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said a study into glare affecting traffic, homes and people in the nearby Forest of Bowland has been ordered.

Lancaster City Council planners have recommended the plans for approval.

The land is currently open countryside, mainly fields with hedgerows, a barn and a former hole previously belonging to Forrest Hills Golf Club, and is mainly used for grazing animals.

The solar farm would be capable of generating enough energy to power about 3,000 four-bed homes and would save the university approximately 2,600 tonnes of CO2 emission annually.

The electricity it produced would be fed into the university campus on the opposite side of the motorway through a dedicated private connection.

The report to the council said the development would be "temporary and fully reversible" and the site would be returned to farmland after the university finished using it.

It said Lancaster University had "declared a climate change emergency and announced its aim to become carbon neutral by 2035 through the delivery of a range of renewable energy projects".

"The city council also declared a climate change emergency in 2019, which sets out its ambitions for activities to be net-zero carbon by 2030," it added.

Three objections to the university's plans have been sent to the city council by residents, plus one from Quernmore Parish Council.

Planning officers have recommended councillors approve the application at the next committee meeting on 28 February.

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