Hearings begin into 'crippling' solar farm plan

Juliet Jarvis, a member of Stop Green Hill, attended a preliminary meeting at the Mercure Hotel in Northampton on Tuesday

A Planning Inspectorate hearing for the largest solar farm in the UK has begun with campaigners claiming it will be "absolutely crippling for our villages".

The proposed Green Hill Solar Farm would cover about 1,200 hectares between Wellingborough and Northampton.

"The impact on our countryside is difficult for people to comprehend," said Juliet Jarvis, a member of Stop Green Hill Solar protest group.

If the project was approved, developer Green Hill Solar Farm Limited said construction would begin in 2027 with the aim of providing electricity to homes by 2029 and it was "looking forward to setting out our case... and the benefits it can deliver".

Ms Jarvis added: "We will be surrounded by a sea of black glass, cable routes and it will devastate our countryside for the next 60 years.

"It really is David versus Goliath, but we have one shot at this to try and stop something way bigger than the size of Heathrow."

The solar farm would cover multiple sites in and around these villages, which are almost all in Northamptonshire:

• Bozeat

• Earls Barton

• Grendon

• Lavendon (in Buckinghamshire)

• Mears Ashby

• Old

• Walgrave

Due to the size of the development, it has been classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), which meant local councils were not ruling on it.

The application is being dealt with by the government's Planning Inspectorate, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The developer said to site would generate about 500MW of electricity, and the solar farm would last for 60 years

More than 1,200 people and businesses have raised their concerns to the NSIP application, as well as people from local authorities and parish councils.

"Green Hill would generate clean, British energy which feeds the national grid in the East Midlands," said the company's project development manager Lesley Giles.

She added it would reduce dependence on fossil fuels and help limit the affect of any global price rises of imported fuels affecting British electricity bills.

A three-person Planning Inspectorate panel will oversee the examination period, which is expected to finish its work by 20 March 2026.

They will assess design, ecology, environment matters, and the traffic and transport impacts of the massive solar farm project.

It is due to consist of a series of examination stages, including issue-specific hearings.