Plans for solar farm near service station approved

Plans have been approved for a solar farm next to a motorway service station.

The 6.36 hectare (15.71 acres) development is proposed south of Donington Park Services off junction 23A of the M1.

It aims to generate 7.15 megawatts of electricity to provide power for 42 new electric vehicle charging bays.

Councillors on North West Leicestershire District Council's planning committee voted unanimously in favour.

The planning committee meeting heard the site would be restored back to its former agricultural condition at the end of its 40-year operational lifespan.

Ecologists at Leicestershire County Council previously objected to the proposal due to "significant harm" to a local wildlife site.

But the meeting heard they are now more supportive following new conditions for a biodiversity construction, landscape and ecological management plan.

Jess Lockwood, property director for service station firm Moto, said it needed to generate 240 megawatts of power by 2030, and a further 240 megawatts as HGVs carrying freight transitioned over to electric power.

"Some 40% of UK carbon emissions come from transport and our ambition at Moto is to provide a network of critical infrastructure of high-powered chargers across the strategic road network," he added.

"We require another 4,000 charges by 2030 - Donington Park only has six chargers.

"We currently do not have enough power in the grid in Donington to allow us to provide any more."

Voting in favour of the application, Castle Donington councillor Rachel Canny said: "I know there's been opposition from local parishes, I know there is the problem with looking after the ecology of places.

"But we also have to look after the ecology of the planet, and I think this is a fair trade-off in what is being proposed."

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