More Norfolk countryside earmarked for solar panels

Officials have recommended that councillors should approve the 72-acre scheme on land at the north eastern edge of Yelverton, six miles from Norwich.

Almost 500 panels would be built next to an existing solar farm on Back Road and adjacent to the A146.

Back Road in Yelverton, where the solar farm could be built (Image: Google Maps)

The scheme would add to the concentration of projects which are increasingly dominating the South Norfolk countryside.

Swathes of similar schemes are being proposed or have already been approved along the Tas Valley.

A solar farm is planned for more than 200 acres of farmland between Stoke Holy Cross and Swainsthorpe, while the Bloy’s Grove scheme is already being built a third of a mile away.

The closest of the dozen of fields in the proposed 2,700-acre East Pye solar scheme will be located 2.7 miles away from the Yelverton solar farm.

Other renewable energy schemes – which are forming part of the government’s net zero ambitions – such as battery storage sites, are also being built nearby.

However, officials at South Norfolk Council have argued there is sufficient space to facilitate the number of different projects in the area.

Lord John Fuller (Image: Newsquest)

They say the scheme will support the target of reaching net zero by 2050 and have urged councillors to approve the project at a meeting next Wednesday.

The Yelverton project has been criticised by locals who have questioned whether another solar farm in the area is necessary.

Lord John Fuller, a South Norfolk Conservative councillor, believes there will be an "obvious harm to the landscape".

The parish council is concerned that its surrounding countryside will now be covered in panels and has fought for the application to be refused.

Other locals have said there are better sites for the solar arrays.