Plans lodged for solar farm on agricultural land

An application has been submitted for a solar farm similar in concept to the one pictured here

Plans for a new 30-hectare solar farm in Herefordshire have taken a step forward.

An application for the proposed 20-megawatt site has been submitted for farmland north of Stoke Edith following a ruling that an Environment Impact Assessment study was not required by virtue, according to Herefordshire Council in April, of its size and location.

Renewable energy firm Anesco seeks permission for solar panels, transformer units, a control room and grid connection equipment.

Comments on the application can be made via the Herefordshire Council webpage until 25 July.

An aerial view of the site included in the application

The project is earmarked for land beside the Hereford-Ledbury railway line, a site where Anesco says the “substantial environmental, economic, and social benefits outweigh its position within an area of flood risk".

Anesco said its development would not increase the risk of flooding within or outside the site.

The firm added the project would "not result in any increased pollution of any form, with no significant producers of sound or light proposed on site”.

It stated “enhanced” hedgerows along with tree and scrub planting would "ensure that landscape impacts are reduced where possible”.

Land beneath the development would "continue to retain an agricultural use with sheep grazing being feasible”, Anesco said, adding the loss of farmland “would be temporary and reversible”.

If given the go-ahead, lorries would access the site during a 48 to 50-week construction period via minor adjacent roads.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.