Huge solar farm gets go-ahead in North East Lincolnshire

A significant solar farm and battery storage unit has been approved on North East Lincolnshire farmland.

Located off Bradley Road and to the north of between Barnoldby-le-Beck and Waltham, a 43.7MW solar farm will be built. There will also be a 10MW battery energy storage system (BESS), and a 23M mast to connect to the existing National Grid system.

Although the size of the solar farm has been scaled back since it was first proposed, it will still cover just under 82 hectares. Councillors approved it unanimously.

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A planning officer told them assessments have found there is no significant proportion of birds using the land. There will be a range of mitigation measures, including no external artificial lighting, and traffic impact from the construction phase is considered negligible. It also borders two existing solar farms to the north and west. Barnoldby Parish Council had raised fire safety concerns, but Humberside Fire and Rescue had not made any objection.

Renewable Connections is the applicant and its development manager Jack Halstead spoke at the planning meeting. He said plans had evolved to reflect feedback, including a reduction of site area by 34 per cent. The site would achieve an overall biodiversity net gain of 34 per cent by habitat units and more than 60 per cent on hedgerows.

There would still be sheep grazing under the solar panels, and ten per cent of the site will also still grow cereal. Most of the agricultural land was low B grade yield. A community benefit fund is to be created, which will benefit not just Barnoldby-le-Beck, but the wider area. Renewable Connections will also make annual contributions to Wildlife Trust and local charitable causes in the area, to be determined with the parish council.

"This project will contribute to improving energy security and stability," said Mr Halstead. He added that solar PV was now the cheapest form of energy generation, and 2023 was the UK's hottest year on record.

Wolds Ward Cllr Henry Hudson said nearby solar farms were now barely noticed. Fellow ward Cllr David Hasthorpe described it as an "exceptionally well thought-out proposal".

Cllrs Steve Holland and Kevin Shutt raised correspondence from farmer Peter Strawson, who leases 77 acres of field to a company for solar energy. He had said that technical advances meant the company could produce all their quota from two-thirds of that area, and suggested it is in the national interest to make best use of the existing facility. "We rent this present site to the energy producers so have nothing to gain from better usage of our site and I make this observation purely as a responsible citizen not wishing to see land taken out of production resources under used or the view of the countryside impaired unnecessarily."

Cllr Hudson clarified the proposals will take another set of wires up to capacity and not affect those Mr Strawson referred to.