A plan to build a massive solar farm in the Norfolk countryside has been turned down, after councillors warned it would mean an unacceptable loss of agricultural land.
A decision on the 110-acre solar farm at Sedgeford, near Hunstanton, had been deferred at an October meeting of West Norfolk Borough Council’s planning committee after curlews were discovered in the area.
At a new meeting on Monday, November 7, councillors were told by a representative of the applicant - Regener8 Power - that the facility would be capable of powering some 3,500 homes per year.
But the committee’s Conservative chair, Vivienne Spikings, warned: “Having seen the area that’s being proposed, this is a huge piece to take out of our food chain.
“We don’t know the future, but we do know that we can put solar panels on roofs…
“We don’t know in the future whether we’ll be able to import anything, [with] what’s going on.
“We need to be getting back to self-sustaining [food sources].”
Some 10 councillors voted in favour of rejecting the scheme, with six in favour of it and one abstention.
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