Plans for a 230-acre solar farm in the Cornwall countryside

Windel Solar 4 Ltd has applied for permission to install the solar farm, which could power the equivalent of 11,000 homes per year, on land near Launceston.

The latest application for a large solar farm on land in the Duchy will be decided by a Cornwall Council strategic planning committee on Thursday, August 15. The local authority’s planning department recommends approval, but local councillor Barry Jordan has brought it to committee due to a number of concerns.

Windel Solar 4 Ltd – which is being represented by development consultancy, the Pegasus Group – wants to build a ground-mounted solar farm alongside associated infrastructure, including distribution substation upgrades with the capacity to deliver approximately 42MW of renewable energy, on land north of Canworthy House at Canworthy Water. If approved, the solar farm would be close to an existing one on 138 acres of land.

A map showing the size of the proposed solar farm near Launceston (Image: Pegasus Group)

Cllr Jordan, who represents Camelford and Boscastle, has called the application in owing to concerns relating to the loss of good farmland, flood risk, highway safety and potential lack of a link to the National Grid which could necessitate battery storage. However, planning officer Adam Carlyon has recommended that the council’s chief planning officer be given delegated powers to approve, subject to conditions.

In his report, Mr Carlyon says: “The proposed development would, during its lifetime of 40 years, significantly change the character of the immediate rural landscape, particularly when viewed in combination with the existing 25MW solar farm to the north-east. Whilst this naturally weighs against the proposal, the other key impacts of loss of agricultural land, ecology, archaeology, residential amenity, highway access and community ownership are all considered to be acceptable, with conditions. The application site does not comprise ‘best and most versatile’ agricultural land.

“It is considered that the landscape and visual harm arising from the proposal would be far outweighed by the economic, social and environmental benefits of a further strategic scale renewable energy installation in this area.

“Furthermore, given that the proposal has a guaranteed grid connection, in a location that would maximise the amount of energy generated and that there do not appear to be any constraints that would prevent early implementation, it is considered that it would make an early and significant contribution to achieving the council’s ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and the Government’s target of reaching net zero by 2050.”

However, Cllr Jordan isn’t happy. He said: “This application if approved would mean the loss of some 230 acres of good farmland, which from time to time is liable to flood. The area already has one solar farm why is there need for another?

“The access roads through Warbstow are dangerous and very narrow and the access to the site is narrow and also very dangerous. There is concern regarding damage to the solar array and one of my biggest concerns is that this application will not have a direct link into the National Grid but the power will be stored in batteries until it is needed. I have asked many times about the recycling of the batteries when they are past their sell-by date and no one has an answer. We are making problems for future generations with the mountain of useless batteries allowing acid to seep into the ground.”

Warbstow Parish Council has also spoken against the proposal. It said: “The current solar farm is over 138 acres and 25MW. We were led to believe that at the time (2012) it was the largest in the south. This new development is 230 acres and 42MW giving a total of 368 acres.”

The parish council has been very critical about a lack of public consultation regarding the plan, which it says became apparent at a parish meeting which was attended by “uninformed residents”.

“With such a large, proposed development every resident within the Canworthy and Warbstow area should have received a letter from Cornwall Council Planning notifying them of the proposed development and inviting them to comment of the planning portal. Why had this not happened?”

The parish council, which is also concerned about HGVs using the road to the proposed solar farm, said community involvement had been “very hit and miss”.

“Pegasus was made aware on May 4 that a leaflet drop didn’t happen. Residents within proximity of the proposed site did not receive these. This should have been recorded in their report, people are still unaware of what is happening. Pegasus has shown complete contempt towards not only the parish council but also members of the public, not a single email has been responded to.”

We have contacted Pegasus for a response to the council’s claims.

Jacobstow Parish Council has also objected to the application, stating: “Cornwall is an area of outstanding beauty and we already have more than our fair share of solar panels and wind turbines, in fact it will be joining the large one already there. It will be seen for miles. Tourists come to Cornwall for its natural beauty not to see acres of solar panels.

“We are also very concerned about the heavy vehicles transporting materials and workforce to the site. Additional traffic will cause major issues and will be dangerous for local residents travelling on our very narrow country lanes if this project goes ahead.”

Of 45 public comments left on Cornwall Council’s planning portal, 40 are against and five are in support of the application, which will be discussed by the planning committee at County Hall / Lys Kernow, Truro, next Thursday from 10am.