Four councils join to threaten judicial review over grant of permission for cross-county solar farm project

Four councils across Cambridgeshire and Suffolk have joined to threaten a judicial review of the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero's decision to grant permission for a 2,400-acre solar farm.

Cambridgeshire County Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, Suffolk County Council and West Suffolk Council have sent a pre-action protocol letter claiming that an error within the planning approval did not account for the technical and administrative input needed from the councils.

The councils claim this error means the project could cost local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The Secretary of State, Ed Miliband, granted permission to the solar farm on 12 July, just seven days in to his tenure.

The plans, which fall under the legislation for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, include ground-mounted solar panels and large-scale battery storage facilities across the 2,400-acre area spanning East Cambridgeshire and areas of West Suffolk.

Concerns about the project date back as far as 2020, when all four local authorities issued a joint message questioning whether the scale of the proposed site was appropriate.

A planning application was made in November 2021, which was followed by an examination by the Planning Inspectorate.

The inspectorate issued its report in June 2023, recommending the Secretary of State withhold consent.

It found that the solar farm would bring "substantial disbenefits" by harming the setting of a local park and cause "extensive adverse impact on the landscape setting of and views from the Limekilns, a non-designated but an especially valued landscape, and the design of the Sunnica West A element".

It also said the plans would be in conflict with local plan policies on landscape and heritage assets.

It added: "Overall, the combination of these harms, taken together with the other harms identified, clearly outweigh the benefits of the Proposed Development.

"These disbenefits are not outweighed by the public benefit of the provision of solar generating capacity despite its need and urgency. Consequently, the [Examining Authority] recommends that development consent for the application be refused in the terms sought."

Despite the inspector's findings, the Secretary of State later concluded that the public benefits of the solar farm outweighed the harm identified and granted development consent.

Following this, Suffolk County Council, West Suffolk Council and East Cambridgeshire District Council each individually sought legal advice on a potential judicial review of the decision-making process.

According to East Cambridgeshire, all three legal opinions were in accordance with each other and suggested that there were no reasonable grounds to overturn the decision, but there was an opportunity to challenge the funding mechanism required to undertake the final stages of work.

Cllr Richard Rout, Deputy Cabinet Member for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects at Suffolk County Council, said the Secretary of State had shown "scant regard for the communities affected, and for the local authorities who must pick up considerable amounts of additional work as a result of the project".

In a statement, he claimed: "One of the crucial things [the Secretary of State] has ignored is the insufficient amount that Sunnica has proposed to reimburse local councils for dealing with conditions attached to the application."

Cllr Lorna Dupre, the chair of Cambridgeshire County Council's Environment and Green Investment Committee, added: "The prospect of this huge development is of deep concern to those of us in East Cambridgeshire.

"Furthermore, an error within the planning approval has not accounted for the extensive technical and administrative input needed from the four local authorities affected by Sunnica's proposals.

"This means that local people could not only face development all around them but could also be asked to pick up the tab for developers' ambitions."

Cllr Anna Bailey, leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, meanwhile said: "It is extremely disappointing that after years of making the clear case that a solar farm of this magnitude is in the wrong place and winning that argument at the hearing, the Secretary of State decided to grant a development order against the wishes of the community, the four affected councils, and against the expert advice of the Examiner.

"There is currently no direct benefit to our communities from this site. It is deemed to have a significant impact on our communities, and there are also biodiversity concerns. Added to this, unlike other solar farms, residents will not benefit from cheaper energy, nor will the council receive any potential business rates income from the facility."

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it would not be appropriate to comment on a live planning case.

Adam Carey