Solar farm on green belt land set for approval

Plans for a solar farm in North Yorkshire which would be the size of at least 80 football pitches are expected to be approved despite concerns it would be built on protected green belt land.

Councillors at North Yorkshire Council are due to vote on the scheme, based at Hillam, near Selby, at a meeting on Tuesday after planning officers recommended it was given the go-ahead.

The 156 acre (63 hectare) site would provide enough energy to supply 17,000 homes and displace 107,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, the proposals stated.

However, critics said the planned solar farm would cause "significant harm" to the green belt.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, nearby residents, community leaders and the CPRE, formerly the Campaign for the Protection of England, had all objected to the proposals.

CPRE North and East Yorkshire said the development, on Austfield Lane, would not conform to local or national planning policies.

It claimed the applicant sought to justify the proposal's location within the green belt as being essential to respond to the climate crisis.

But the charity said research it had commissioned from University College London had found that large-scale solar farms "are not actually required" to meet net zero targets.

"The very special circumstances put forward by the applicant in their planning statement do not trump the significant harm caused to the green belt," the organisation said in its objection.

Meanwhile, Hillam Parish Council also rejected the plans for the facility.

In its objection, the council said: "Over the past couple of years, the parish council has spent considerable public funds in planning-related disputes to preserve the green belt.

"If a development such as this were to go ahead, it would make a mockery of all the good work undertaken by parish councillors, local government councillors and Selby District Council."

The council received 36 objections to the proposals from local residents.

Among the issues cited were the impact on the character of the village and the surrounding landscape, the loss of good agricultural land and the scheme being proposed for the green belt.

But planning officers said any issues caused by the solar farm would be outweighed by the benefits.

If the application is approved at the meeting later, it would need to be signed off by the secretary of state due to it being on green belt land.

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