What The Press Is Saying
Important resources and more information about solar panel farms and other solar pannel applications in Oxfordshire
"Landowners cover countryside with solar panels in 'sunrush'" - The Times, July 2024
This report covers the rapid expansion of solar farms across the UK countryside, leading to debates over land use, with concerns about the impact on property prices and rural communities.
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Thelandsite.co.uk
Planning refused
Cherwell District Council’s planning committee’s July 11 meeting decided Oxford New Energy’s plans for a 43.78-hectare solar farm, north of Manor Farm, Noke, near Kidlington (pictured above) should be refused because of its location in the Oxford Green Belt.
Stop Lime Down
Another development on our doorstep.
Solar Energy UK's publicity - Solar Habitat 2025: Ecological trends on solar farms in the UK as summarised in the official magazine of the Royal Town Planning Institute, The Planner, 6 May 2025:
Quote “The third investigation of the wildlife found among British solar farms, Solar Habitat 2025, was launched at the trade association’s first ever parliamentary reception earlier this week.” “Solar farms are providing ecological refuges from the pressures of intensive agriculture, finds Solar Energy UK’s newest report.”
These eye-catching headlines were accompanied by ‘numbers’ which impressed MPs. For example 124 Solar Farms submitted data; around 7,500 individual birds were counted; almost 3,000 butterflies and bumblebees were recorded; 44 woody plant species were reported…. https://solarenergyuk.org/resource/solar-habitat-2025
Other alarming issues relate to the credibility of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) as published in The Planner www.theplanner.co.uk :
- Lack of resources in local planning authorities are constraining success of implementing BNG. 95% of authorities have limited or no capacity to ensure applications are professionally assessed. (6 April 2025).
- The Home Builders Federation often rely on BNG gains being off-site. This is likely to apply to other developers. BNG may therefore not be applied on the Old Hayes site itself. There are not enough ‘BNG credits’ available for developers. (3 April 2025).
The proposed Environment Development Plan (bill) will weaken environmental law and lead to even more biodiversity loss. BNG will be further watered down. (14 April, 2025). The National Trust and 33 other environmental organisations have protested in writing. We cannot expect BNG to reliably conserve or enhance biodiversity on the proposed Old Hayes site.
The main reason this development was refused by Shropshire Council was its proximity to the magnificent ruins of Haughmond Abbey, but there were other considerations of relevance to the Old Hayes proposal, such as:
- The effect on local landscape quality – the inspector did not agree with the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment;
- The effect on residents’ living conditions – panels close to a house would have ‘an overbearing impact on living conditions by severely encroaching into the current open outlook around the property. The unfortunate impact of thisinsensitive arrangement would not be sufficiently mitigated by the narrow belt of proposed planting adjacent to the house plot’;
- The effect on wildlife [in this case skylark plots, but it could apply to ABEI’s proposals] the details of how this [the skylark plots] would be achieved, where it would take place, what would be required, are not adequately developed so there is insufficient certainty that such a condition would deliver a successful outcome.
For the details see Shropshire Council's Appeal Decision click here.
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