Solar farm proposal for green belt land rejected

Plans to erect a solar farm which would have covered an area equivalent to 80 football pitches on green belt land have been rejected by local councillors.

The 49.95MW scheme, proposed for an 156-acre (63-hectare) site at Hillam, near Selby, was recommended for approval by planning officers at North Yorkshire Council.

The solar farm would have provided enough green energy to supply 17,000 homes and displace 107,500 tonnes of CO2 a year, according to the proposal.

However, councillors voted to reject the plans due to the loss of "good quality" arable land and the fact the scheme fell within green belt.

Setting out their reasons for refusing the plans, councillor Angus Thompson said: "Whilst I fully accept that climate change is a special circumstance, this is good quality agricultural land.

"I can assure you I'm a retired farmer - I know all about sheep, I know all about arable land - and grade two is good quality arable land and it's in a green belt."

Councillor John McCartney said several other solar farms had already been approved for the Selby district, and further appropriation of land to generate solar power was "unacceptable".

"The accumulation should say we shouldn't put any more in the Selby district," he stated.

"I get the point about the grid connections, but there's got to be fairness as well - and just raping the entire south Selby by putting solar panels on it is unacceptable."

The meeting heard an application for a solar farm near Malton had recently been given the go-ahead by the secretary of state, after initially being refused by the council, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Councillors were warned that while the council would stand by the decision to refuse the application, the decision could still be overturned on appeal.

Nearby residents, community leaders and the CPRE, formerly the Campaign for the Protection of England, had all objected to the proposal, with CPRE North and East Yorkshire claiming the development, on Austfield Lane, would not conform to local or national planning policies.

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