Yahoo Finance Michael Gove approves solar farm the size of 75 football pitches despite local objections
Michael Gove has approved a solar farm the size of 75 football pitches in Shropshire despite opposition from locals who claim the project will spoil the area’s natural beauty.
The Housing Secretary has approved the 40 hectare scheme, which will include large banks of solar panels and six battery storage containers.
Developers say the project will provide enough electricity to power 8,657 houses and save some 15,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by providing greener energy.
However, locals have opposed the scheme by arguing it will put off visitors to the area, which is on the borders of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Telford and Wrekin council had initially refused the planning permission in November 2021 after claiming the solar farm would spoil the landscape and “result in significant harm to the character of the area.”
The solar farm sits on the edge of Wrekin Forest, which is part of the Shropshire Hills area of outstanding natural beauty, and in the shadow of The Wrekin hill, one of the county’s best-known landmarks.
Telford & Wrekin council said “a large number of intrinsic qualities would be notably eroded through the introduction of a highly incongruous development.”
However, Mr Gove has now greenlit the project following an appeal by developer Greentech Invest, which is behind the project.
The Secretary of State has argued that the project would bring economic benefits to the area and help meet Britain’s net zero goals.
Lee Rowley, Mr Gove's Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, said the green electricity produced by the scheme was “afforded significant weight” in the decision.
Greentech has agreed to plant hedgerows to stop the solar farms becoming an eyesore and Mr Rowley said there was “very limited harm to the setting of the AONB, which carries very limited weight against the proposal.”
However, residents of the area have been angered by the decision.
Shaun Davies, the leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, said he was “bitterly disappointed” by the decision, which he said "goes against the views of our communities, our planning officers, the planning committee, and the government's own planning inspector.”
He said: “We are now taking urgent legal advice on what we can do to challenge the government's decision – a decision which completely fails to respect our communities, the planning committee, or the planning inspector.”
Jocelyn Lewis, of a local ramblers group, said: “We are massively disappointed.
“It is unlikely for a local ramblers group and an open space society to submit strong objections to a planning application but this landscape is special. The Government ministers have ignored the local democracy process and the feelings of local users.”
In a statement posted on the Stop Steeraway and New Works Industrial Solar 'Farms' group on Facebook, one local resident said: “There are certainly a lot of angry people this evening, who are questioning the process of local democracy. Such strong public objection should not be ignored.”
The site will be surrounded by anti-deer fences and CCTV, which have proved a point of contention.
During an inquiry into the proposal, Councillor Jacqui Seymour said: “I and many others completely fail to understand or comprehend why anyone would want to come and walk, or for that matter picnic, looking at a vast number of solar panels, inside 6 foot fencing and all to the tune of humming generators.”
An AONB is defined as an “exceptional landscape whose distinctive character and natural beauty are precious enough to be safeguarded in the national interest.” There are 46 AONB across Britain.
The local authority has six weeks to decide if it wants to appeal Mr Gove’s decision at the High Court.
Telford & Wrekin Council was contacted for comment.
Greentech was approached for comment.
