Suffolk: Angry scenes at meeting about giant solar farm

There were angry scenes as more than 100 people listened to the firm behind a giant solar farm outline its plans.

Energy firm Sunnica wants to build the project which would span 1,130 hectares (2,792 acres) around several villages in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

Residents said they were concerned about the size of the site, the location and the use of arable land.

Sunnica told the meeting the project was essential if the UK was to meet its net zero greenhouse gas target by 2050.

The meeting on Wednesday evening took place in Red Lodge in Suffolk, one of the villages affected by the development.

The room was so full that some people stood outside in the cold for the two hour meeting.

Audience members became increasingly exasperated as the company, Sunnica, struggled to answer many of their questions, claiming that a lot of the details were still to be worked out.

Other members of the audience were worried about the impact on the countryside and the loss of farmland amid concerns about food security.

Sunnica said most of the land was low-grade agricultural land and it would be decontaminated and returned to its original use when the project came to an end in 40 years' time.

There was also anger at the lack of consultation to date by the company, which it blamed in part on the pandemic.

Shazia Shujah from Red Lodge Parish Council said: "We are not against solar power, we're very much aware we need to look into green renewable energy, it's just the proximity to residents here and also the scale of this scheme."

Sunnica was also criticised in the Commons on Wednesday by Suffolk MP Matt Hancock.

He said: "They have refused to meet me, they have refused to attend any public meetings, they have had next to zero engagement, they have not as far as I know set foot in the towns and villages affected to answer residents' questions since July 2019.

"This proposal is actively undermining local support for solar energy and it should be stopped and sent straight back to the drawing board where we can have a reasonable conversation about where solar will be welcome locally."

Luke Murray from Sunnica said: "We have a very big threat to us that is climate change and we have to respond to that threat with scale.

"We're delivering a big project against a very big challenge we face as a country and as a planet."

The company said the farm would power 172,000 homes and create 1,500 jobs during construction. Once completed there would be 27 full-time jobs running the farm.

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