Solar developer wins UK High Court battle

Share

A judge in the English High Court has slammed the ‘perverse decision' of the UK government's secretary of state for communities and local government to block planning consent for a 24 MW solar farm on a former airfield in Suffolk.

Overturning the decision by secretary of state Eric Pickles to block the planning application – and subsequently refusing any leave for the government to appeal – Justice Keith Lindblom said Pickles' decision the scheme was in conflict with the local authority's development plan "does not show that he performed his duty under section 38(6) [of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004."

The decision by Pickles, in October, to overrule a planning inspector's approval of the scheme following a public inquiry – and relating to a planning application initially rejected by the Waveney District Council local authority despite having received only three letters of objection – was overturned in the High Court in London, allowing East Midlands-based developer Lark Energy to continue with the project.

Welcoming the High Court's decision, Jo Wall, Lark Energy's development director, said: "We were always concerned about the legality of the secretary of state's decision as it appeared to have been made without due regard to the local plan.

"It was clear to anyone that read the secretary of state's decision notice that this project was a victim of political expediency rather than rigorous application of planning policy."

Fracking and nuclear enjoy government backing, claim

Lark Energy, which announced the decision in a press release this afternoon, contrasted the public support – and political opposition – experienced by the Ellough project in Suffolk, with efforts to smooth planning consents for natural gas fracking and nuclear schemes.

Lark Energy MD Jonathan Selwyn, said: "It would seem some elements of the government wish to prevent large scale solar developments even where the majority of the public supports them.

"This is in stark contrast to the treatment afforded the far less popular fracking and nuclear industries and is difficult for the many SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprizes) engaged in the solar sector to understand."

The Ellough scheme is on low grade agricultural land on a former World War II airfield, is next to what Lark Energy describes as ‘a substantial industrial area' and wraps around a large turkey factory.

Pickles' opposition to the scheme had been hailed in right wing newspaper The Daily Telegraph recently as heralding the death knell for large scale solar in the UK.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Popular content

Energy storage is a solved problem

08 October 2024 There are thousands of extraordinarily good pumped hydro energy storage sites around the world with extraordinarily low capital cost. When coupled wit...

Share

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.