Agenda item - Sunnica Energy Farm Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP): Written Representation (Report number: CAB/WS/22/057)

Agenda item

Sunnica Energy Farm Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP): Written Representation (Report number: CAB/WS/22/057)

Report number:     CAB/WS/22/057

Portfolio holder: Councillor David Roach

Lead officer: Julie Baird

Decision:

Resolved:

That:

 

1.       The Written Representation in connection with the Sunnica Energy Farm Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) proposals to be submitted to the Examining Authority (attached as Appendix 1 to Report number: CAB/WS/22/057), be endorsed.

 

2.       The Director (Planning and Growth), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, be authorised to make amendments to the Written Representation prior to its submission.

 

(Due to ensuring the Written Representation is submitted by the required deadline of 11 November 2022, with the agreement of the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee, the call-in procedure for this item has been suspended. The Chair of the O&S Committee was satisfied that the decision proposed was reasonable in all the circumstances and to it being treated as a matter of urgency).

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered this report, which sought endorsement of the Council’s Written Representation in connection with the Sunnica Energy Farm Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) proposals, and for it to be submitted to the Examining Authority by the required deadline of 11 November 2022.

 

Sunnica Energy Farm was a proposed scheme for the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) generating panels and on-site battery energy storage systems (BESS) across two sites within Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The proposal would include the infrastructure associated with the required connection to the national grid, which would either involve an extension to the Burwell National Grid Substation or the installation of the necessary equipment within the solar panel sites to enable the generated power to be transported to the grid.

 

The scheme was defined as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) under the Planning Act 2008 as it was an onshore generating station in England exceeding 50 megawatts.  Consent for an NSIP took the form of a Development Consent Order. The application would be determined by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The Council was a statutory consultee in the consenting process and a number of stages needed to be followed. The Council was now required to submit it’s Written Representation (WR). 

 

A WR was the most appropriate document for a local authority to set out its view on the application, i.e. whether or not it supported the application and its reasons. 

 

Section 2.3 of Report number: CAB/WS/22/057 summarised the views and concerns of the Council in response to the proposals with the full WR attached as Appendix 1.

 

Councillor David Roach, Portfolio Holder for Planning, drew relevant issues to the attention of Cabinet, including placing his thanks on record to officers involved throughout the process, to local ward members and to other councillors, stakeholders and members of the public that had engaged at the various stages. 

 

These sentiments were echoed by fellow Cabinet members, which included thanking Councillor Roach for his valued contributions as well.

 

The Cabinet endorsed the view that a Development Consent Order should not be granted in respect of the application for the development in its current form for the reasons provided in its WR. Such reasons included (but not limited to) the visual impact on the landscape, the significant loss of agricultural land and the impact on biodiversity. Whilst not against the generation of energy from solar farms, it was felt that this could be achieved through provision of separate smaller schemes in more carefully considered appropriate locations. 

 

Resolved:

That:

 

1.       The Written Representation in connection with the Sunnica Energy Farm Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) proposals to be submitted to the Examining Authority (attached as Appendix 1 to Report number: CAB/WS/22/057), be endorsed.

 

2.       The Director (Planning and Growth), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, be authorised to make amendments to the Written Representation prior to its submission.

 

(Due to ensuring the Written Representation was submitted by the required deadline of 11 November 2022, with the agreement of the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee, the call-in procedure for this item had been suspended. The Chair of the O&S Committee was satisfied that the decision proposed was reasonable in all the circumstances and to it being treated as a matter of urgency).

Supporting documents:

 

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