Planning inquiry called over rejected solar farm east of Telford

The plans would have seen a 22 megawatt array of panels installed on farmland to the south of Hall Lane, Kemberton, east of Telford, generating enough electricity to power 6,000 homes annually.

Council planning officers had recommended approval of the scheme, despite the land being located in the West Midlands green belt.

But councillors on the northern planning committee instead voted to reject the application at a meeting in March, after hearing it would lead to the closure of an organic dairy business which currently uses the land.

The applicant, Swedish energy firm Vattenfall, has now appealed to the Planning Inspectorate in the hope of having the decision overturned.

If the appeal is successful, the solar farm will be in place for up to 40 years.

The plans received 133 objections, including from Kemberton Parish Council and then-councillor for the Worfield division, Richard Marshall.

Mr Marshall and a solicitor representing the parish council spoke at the meeting to urge refusal of the scheme, as well as Allan Chatham, of Chatham’s Organic Dairy based at Brockton Grange Farm.

Mr Chatham told the committee that his parents had bought the farm in 1944 and it was now run by his son, producing 250,000 litres of organic milk per year.

He said the farm had leased the fields earmarked for the solar farm since 2008 and in 2018 the business opened an on-site farm shop, hitting the headlines by launching Shropshire’s first organic milk vending machine.

Mr Chatham said: “Our farm in its current form will be financially unsustainable without this land, and it will impact the local economy with the loss of some jobs.

“If you approve this application it will put our whole organic farm business in jeopardy because this land forms a vital part of it.”

Mr Marshall asked the committee to prevent the “destruction” of the dairy business by refusing the plans, adding that the applicants should instead look at brownfield land on Halesfield Industrial Estate.

Solicitor Fred Quartermain from Thrings, representing Kemberton Parish Council, said the application was a “long way” from reaching the high threshold for developing the green belt.

However Nick Williams, agent to the applicant, said the proposed site was the only suitable land within a reasonable distance of the substation on the industrial estate.

He said the scheme would lead to biodiversity “net gain” and the land would continue to be used for agriculture, through sheep grazing, for the 40-year life of the solar farm.

The committee unanimously voted to refuse the application, with members saying there were no special circumstances to justify the development in the Green Belt.

Members also voiced concerns about “urban sprawl”, with the land currently providing a green buffer between Telford and Kemberton, and the impact on the landscape and nearby listed buildings.

The inquiry will open on January 9 next year and will be held in public. The applicants and the council will get the chance to put their case to an inspector and cross-examine each other’s evidence.