Second attempt to build large solar farm on land between Sutton and Mansfield

Back in 2022, Ashfield District Council rejected the original plan for the solar farm on land spanning 23 acres at Hamilton Hill Farm, bounded by Hamilton Road, Cauldwell Road and Coxmoor Road.

The council cited concerns about the visual impact, fearing the development would scar and deface the countryside, particularly the nearby Mound On Hamilton Hill, which is registered as a Scheduled Monument dating back to the Bronze Age.

Even though the applicant, Hamilton Solar Ltd, appealed against the decision, the Planning Inspectorate backed the council and threw out the plan.

The inspector felt the development would “result in substantial harm to the setting of a designated heritage asset through inappropriate development”.

However, Hamilton Solar Ltd has now returned with a fresh planning application and a revised, smaller scheme that it hopes will win the council over.

This time, the site covers 13.22 acres (or 5.35 hectares) of arable land. It is anticipated that the solar farm would generate enough clean renewable electricity per year to provide power for about 2,300 homes in the local area, as well as businesses and industrial units.

Planning papers say it would be built to last for about 40 years and would provide 30 full-time jobs during its construction period of 16 to 24 weeks.

The array of solar panels would be no higher than three metres. The land could continue to be used for “less intensive” agriculture, with sheep able to graze beneath the panels, and it would include improved habitats for several wildlife species.

Although a security fence, two metres high with CCTV security cameras, would be built around the perimeter of the site, existing mature hedges and trees would remain.

Access would be from Hamilton Road, and extra lighting would be needed only for maintenance purposes.

Crucially, the plan stresses “the aim to avoid significant harm to the heritage asset”, Mound On Hamilton Hill, which sits about 380 metres from the site.

Known locally as Hambledon Hill or The Mam, the large, circular mound is currently a grassed pasture, with a few small trees, sitting on privately-owned land. But evidence suggests it was used as a barrow, or burial ground, during the prehistoric Bronze Age (between 3300 BC and 1200 BC).

Hamilton Solar Ltd has commissioned a Leicestershire-based environment consultancy firm, Heritage Archaeology, to prepare a statement, which accepts that the mound is “a historic and archaeological asset of high value”.

But it points out that the solar farm fields “are not readily viewed” when standing on the mound, and that the development “would not impact the more rural outlook”.

What’s more, it suggests that the solar farm could even “offer potential heritage benefits” by guiding access to the mound and providing information boards for interested visitors or tourists.

Solar farms are large-scale installations of inter-connected solar panels that generate electricity to be fed to the power grid.

Typically located in rural areas, where there is ample space, the panels absorb sunlight and convert it directly into electricity.

This proposed solar farm would be developed by RE Projects Development Ltd, an experienced developer of renewable and low-carbon energy projects within the UK, and would be connected to the nearby Sutton Junction Primary substation.

RE says the planning application is “in line with the government’s requirement for more renewable energy generation projects” to help fight climate change, which was now “a recognised phenomenon of international and global significance”.

"It would have an approximate capacity of 7MW and the solar energy generated would be clean, renewable electricity that would make a vital contribution to climate-change targets amid the UK’s transition away from fossil fuels,” RE goes on.

"The planning system should support the transition to net zero by 2050….and this proposed project would contribute significant renewable energy, directly addressing the climate emergency.

“This site was chosen because of its proximity to the electricity substation at Sutton and the large, nearby industrial area, which would benefit from the zero-carbon power generated by the solar farm.

“The site is located away from the settlement of Ashfield and does not have public footpaths within it. The limited number of residential properties close by would be screened by new hedges to minimise visibility.

"The result would be an area providing continued agriculture, ecological benefits, a more interesting and varied landscape, as well as energy generation. There would be significant benefits to the local and wider area.”

Interested residents can now have their say on the proposal by posting their opinions on the council’s website.

In the meantime, the council’s planning officers are poring over a host of documents submitted with the planning application and have set a deadline date of Monday, March 2 for a decision or recommendation.

THE details of many planning applications can be found in public notices advertised by local and regional newspapers. To catch up on all the latest public notices, go to https://publicnoticeportal.uk/