The proposed site of Enviromena’s 48.9MW solar farm, refused despite being recommended for approval. Image: Enviromena.

Despite being recommended for approval by its planning officer, North Warwickshire Borough Council committee members chose against the 150-acre solar farm pitched for development at a site near the M6 by Fillongley.

The decision, made on 8 July, came on the day that Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Chancellor, vowed to “get Britain building again”.

Reeves had criticised a “status quo which responds to the existence of trade-offs by always saying “no”, with too many construction projects rejected due to local conflict. Yesterday, 17 July, the King’s Speech built on the proposition of planning reform as a major boost to the UK economy.

According to the speech: “Ministers will get Britain building, including through planning reform, as they seek to accelerate the delivery of high quality infrastructure and housing.”

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill promises to provide more resources to hire the 300 new planners Labour has said will help speed up approvals for new homes. It will also, critically for the development of renewables projects, simplify the process for granting consent to major infrastructure projects.

Kicking off his premiership as Secretary of State for energy security and net zero, Ed Miliband granted development consent orders (DCOs) for three nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs), two of which had been delayed under the Conservative Government.

North Warwickshire Borough Council is being led by a Conservative minority administration and refused the project on the basis that it is an inappropriate development in the Green Belt and would cause landscape and visual harm.

Enviromena disagrees, having put into the plans a number of measures to deliver a significant biodiversity net gain, considerable landscape enhancements through tree and hedgerow planting, a community garden area and flood alleviation measures above and beyond planning requirements to support the wider area including Fillongley village in their battles against flooding.

Mark Harding, Enviromena’s European development director, said: “Up until the committee meeting we had been working well with the head of development control, who had helped shape the project which had no objections from statutory consultees. Despite a recommendation from the head of development control to approve the project, the committee members decided to reject our application which was a complete surprise.

“We believe we’ve gone above and beyond the standard requirements in our planning application, not just on landscaping but on flood plans and mitigation which was raised by the local flood group as a historical issue for the area.

“The government wants to get the ry building, and this is further proof that this council is out of touch with national policy.

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