Residents prepared to fight Derbyshire solar farm bid at public inquiry

KS SPV 61, a company run by Kronos Solar, is appealing for a 310-acre solar farm between Alfreton and Oakerthorpe, at Hall Farm, off Church Street, to be approved.

Now a six-day public inquiry will be held in South Normanton from October 18-21 and November 1-2, where a Government planning inspector will rule on the appeal.

It will be hosted at The Post Mill Centre, Market Street, from 10am daily, with members of the public welcome to attend and give their views.

Residents may also watch the inquiry via an online stream, with access available by request – call 01773 841662.

Germany-based Kronos, the original solar farm applicant has been approached for comment.

Ahead of the December planning meeting at which the plans were rejected, a Kronos spokesman said: “We are disappointed the council has recommended refusal of the plans, despite declaring a climate emergency and committing to net zero by 2030.

“A scheme such as this is of national importance. We hope the benefits of the proposals, to the climate emergency, our environment, and our climate, will be recognised by councillors when they make their decision.

“However, we need to be clear about what this decision means. If these proposals do not come forward here, in these conditions, they will not come forward anywhere in the UK.

“The council has taken the important first step of recognising the climate change crisis, but this must be followed by action.

“If renewable energy projects receive this level of hostility right after the UK has made bold commitments on climate change, are we confident we are ready and willing to act? Or is it simply ‘greenwashing’?”

Jamie Selby, for campaign group Save Alfreton Countryside, which formed to lobby against the solar farm, along with other planning applications for houses and a retirement village, said: “We will be mounting a robust defence of our case against Kronos’s ill-conceived solar farm.

“Our team, advised by Peter Milner and supported by CPRE Derbyshire, has spent many hours of many days and weeks preparing our submissions, so they will be as strong as possible.

“The generous support of members of the public around the area and local councils means we have been able to secure a barrister to represent us at the inquiry.

“We maintain this development would be of huge detriment to local residents, walkers, the children of Alfreton Park Special School, wildlife and the settings of important historic buildings such as Wingfield Manor. Instead, solar panels should be mounted on the many square miles of industrial rooftops nearby.”

At December’s planning meeting, councillors felt Kronos’ plans – for a farm capable of providing electricity for 11,500 homes, three times the number of households in Alfreton – were simply too large and in the wrong place, preferring solar panels to be placed on industrial buildings and on brownfield land. They felt the negative impact of the scheme on the landscape was too great and outweighed the benefit of the solar farm itself.