Football club solar farm faces backlash

Sunderland AFC said it wanted to be one of the first net zero clubs in the UK

A football club's plans for a new solar farm have faced backlash from nearby residents.

If approved, the 40MW solar farm would be constructed on a 48-hectare (118-acre) greenbelt site to the east and west of Sunderland AFC's training centre near Cleadon Village, South Tyneside.

But Nigel Bundred, a South Tyneside resident, has set up a petition calling for the plans to be scrapped.

"Meeting our energy goals shouldn't be used to justify the wrong development in the wrong location," he said. The football club declined to comment.

Sunderland AFC previously said the solar farm was part of its plans to become "one of the first net zero clubs in the United Kingdom".

The project would have the potential to produce enough energy to meet the annual electrical needs of about 12,120 family homes in South Tyneside and Sunderland, it said in a report about the project.

Mr Bundred said that while there was "absolutely a climate emergency", he believed the solar farm was not the best solution.

"It should not be built on the greenbelt," he said, and added the club should instead be looking at brownfield sites for the project.

"You'd lose all the open space [around there]," he said.

In its planning application for the solar farm, the football club said it had found no brownfield sites of a similar size which would have a lesser impact on the environment.

Nearby rooftops were also too small to accommodate the solar panels, the club said in its application.