Decision looms for controversial Springwell Village solar farm generating enough power for 11,000 homes

Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee will discuss an application to develop land at Usworth House Farm near the A194 (M) to the north east of Springwell Village.

The site comprises a number of agricultural fields and sits within the Green Belt near the urban edge of Gateshead.

Proposals from applicant Boom Power Ltd, submitted back in January, 2023, aimed to use the site for the generation of renewable energy by installing “ground-mounted photovoltaic solar arrays” together with associated infrastructure.

According to a design and access statement submitted to local authority officials at the time, the solar farm would provide an output of up to 27.3 MW and would make a “valuable contribution to the generation of electricity at a local level”.

Applicants were seeking an ‘operational lifespan’ of 40 years for the solar farm, and said the site would then be decommissioned and “reinstated back to the original state before construction”.

The design and access statement added the solar farm would “generate clean renewable energy for the equivalent of more than 11,000 homes a year”, with the “anticipated CO2 displacement” being “12,500 tonnes per annum.”

As most of the site lies within a wildlife corridor, landscaping and “biodiversity enhancements” were also proposed to reduce the ecological impacts of the development.

This included new planting, hedgerow creation and additional nesting and refuge/overwintering habitat for wildlife, as well as the land between and beneath the solar panels being used for “seasonal sheep grazing”.

During a council consultation exercise on the plans, the solar farm sparked public opposition with 443 objections raising a range of concerns.

The objections, summarised in a council report, included “encroachment into and inappropriate development / overdevelopment of Green Belt”, landscape and visual impacts, as well as concerns about highway safety, residential amenity and wildlife impacts.

Some comments criticised the 40-year “temporary” time period for the solar farm and said there was “no certainty that the land will ever be restored”, while others suggested alternative sites for the solar farm, including former industrial areas and ‘brownfield’ land.

Other concerns included the proposed development “merging Springwell Village with nearby settlements, taking away countryside, visual amenity, wildlife habitats and interfering with the setting and character of the village”.

In the same council consultation exercise on the solar farm, there were 32 representations in support, with comments noting the renewable energy benefits and “benefits to people and wildlife”, as well as the solar farm plan being “much better than housing” and solar power itself being an “inexpensive and effective measure.”

Council planning officers, in a report published ahead of a decision-making Planning and Highways Committee on January 6, 2025, have recommended the solar farm for approval.

The solar farm would consist of approximately 59,319 solar PV panels and PV modules would be mounted on metal racks and laid out in multiple arrays in parallel rows, according to planning documents.

The point of connection to the electrical grid would be on the application site and a substation compound would be constructed adjacent to the existing pylon, housing “transformer and switchgear infrastructure and tower structures”.

Council planners said the generation of renewable energy would “contribute to meeting national net zero targets” and Sunderland City Council’s “low carbon action plan”, and that “significant weight” should be given to these factors in the planning balance.

It was also noted that “significant biodiversity net gain” would be delivered within the application site, which would “provide noticeable and beneficial improvements for the area”.

Council planners acknowledged that the development would be “inappropriate development in the Green Belt” and would “harm” its openness, “both spatially and visually”, but said the solar farm would still be acceptable, subject to conditions.

This included the completion of a section 106 legal agreement to secure plans to “mitigate and compensate for impacts on farmland birds, and to secure the delivery of significant biodiversity net gain (BNG)”.

It was argued that the “public benefits” of “substantial renewable energy” and “significant BNG” within the site would “amount to very special circumstances” to justify development within the Green Belt.

The council committee report adds: “It is acknowledged that the proposed development would cause moderate adverse impacts from surrounding views, localised major adverse impacts from public rights of way within the site, and localised major adverse impacts spatially from within the site due to the loss of openness and the introduction of man-made elements, together with the reduction to/loss of recreational enjoyment.

“It is also acknowledged that the proposed development would cause negligible adverse impact on best and most versatile agricultural land for the lifetime of the development.

“However, the applicant has secured a grid connection with the National Grid and demonstrated that there [are] no other less sensitive sites available / suitable to accommodate a solar farm of the scale proposed.

“The proposed development would also have no other unacceptable impact in relation to heritage assets, highway and pedestrian safety / air traffic, other ecology matters, flooding / drainage, land contamination and archaeology subject to the discharge of and compliance with recommended conditions.”

Councillors on the Planning and Highways Committee will be asked to vote on the planning application at a meeting next week.

If approved by councillors, the application would still need to be referred to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government due to impacts on the proposed Green Belt location.

The council meeting to decide next steps for the solar farm is scheduled to take place on Monday, January 6, 2025, at City Hall.

The meeting is expected to start at 5.30pm and will be open to the public.

For more information on the planning application, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 22/02803/FU4