Cambridgeshire County Council has resolved to write to Government to express residents’ concerns over the proposed private commercial Sunnica development.

The Full Council meeting on Tuesday 20 July instructed the Chief Executive to write to the Secretary of State to express concern at ‘the size and scale of the proposed 500MW Sunnica solar farm on agricultural farmland, the effect of COVID restrictions on opportunities for public engagement and the omission of some residents from the initial round of consultations, and the impact of the proposals on rural communities’.

The motion was unanimously agreed, and the final text including amendments from me to the original motion is as follows.

Sunnica motion

Cambridgeshire County Council committed in May 2020 to support the delivery of net-zero carbon emissions for Cambridgeshire when it approved its Climate Change and Environment Strategy.

The Joint Administration of the County Council is committed to reviewing the strategy with the aim of moving forward the Net Zero target for Cambridgeshire County Council towards 2030. This review will be carried out in the light of developments such as fresh information from the independent Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Commission on Climate Change, and successful trials of Local Area Energy Planning in Newcastle, Bridgend and Manchester.

The Council has already committed to investment into renewable energy generation and it is clear that Cambridgeshire must generate more renewable energy to help deliver ambitious decarbonisation targets. Good examples of work under way are projects such as Solar Together, supporting residents to purchase solar PV for their roofs and domestic battery storage; Babraham Smart Energy grid, which uses already developed land to generate solar PV over car spaces; and solar farms, such as North Angle Solar Farm. These schemes, developed by officers in the Council’s Climate Change & Energy Services team, have been supported across parties and by communities, putting Cambridgeshire in a strong position from which to extend its climate and sustainability ambitions.

The proposed Sunnica commercial development, a 500MW solar farm that covers 2800 acres of farmland on the Eastern edges of Cambridgeshire, will impact the villages of Isleham, Chippenham, Snailwell, Kennett, Burwell and Reach, plus a number of villages in West Suffolk.

It is disappointing that communities including Isleham were included late in the initial round of consultation, and that COVID restrictions in force at that time limited the nature of the consultation that could be undertaken.

The planning decision for the proposed Sunnica project falls under the legislation for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects that will ultimately be determined by the Secretary of State. A joint response was made by this Council in December 2020 along with Suffolk County Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, and West Suffolk Council, which acknowledged the need to increase renewable energy generation, while noting that no updates to the National Policy Statements for Renewable Energy Infrastructure had been produced to indicate that solar PV on the scale proposed is appropriate.

This Council resolves:

• to continue to work in partnership with Suffolk County Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, and West Suffolk Council to make representations in respect of the Sunnica proposals as they develop.
• to instruct the Chief Executive to write to the Secretary of State to express concern at the size and scale of the proposed 500MW Sunnica solar farm on agricultural farmland, the effect of COVID restrictions on opportunities for public engagement and the omission of some residents from the initial round of consultations, and the impact of the proposals on rural communities.
• to share a copy of the letter with the other ‘host’ planning authorities, both local MP’s, and the Cambridgeshire Parish Councils of Burwell, Chippenham, Fordham, Isleham, Kennett, Reach, Snailwell and Soham.