A proposed solar farm in Holbeach St Matthew is going ahead after the company behind it won a planning appeal.
The result was released on Tuesday and gives the go ahead for an array across 114 hectares of land at Cauldwell Farm.
South Holland District Council had refused the application last year, and Green Energy International has successfully appealed the refusal.
Inspector Philip Major said that despite the fact the farm array would be on Grade 1 agricultural land, it would be ‘relatively insignificant in the local, regional and national spatial context,” says the appeal document.
“In my judgment, any continuation of agricultural use during the lifetime of the solar farm would be likely to be of a much lower intensity than suggested by the appellant. If it took place at all. It is more likely that for the 40 year period of this proposal, the land would, at least for some of the time, be taken out of agricultural use.”
The inspector made the comment as the company suggested that grazing by sheep would still constitute agricultural use alongside the installation.
Mr Major visited the site and said that there would be ‘little, if any, perception of the appeal development from the coastal path.’
He has outlined conditions, including addressing any concern over glare from the array, before the work starts.
