Community benefit from Says Court Solar Farm

When planning permission was granted for Says Court Solar Farm, Westerleigh Parish Council negotiated a Community Benefit of £19,000 per year for the life of the solar farm (expected to be 25 years).

As part of this agreement, the Parish Council will work with Avon Wildlife Trust to implement two wildlife habitats adjacent to the solar farm. This agreement lasts for five years and includes an education programme, community engagement, wildlife walks, monitoring and management advice.

You can find out more and suggest ideas for spending the money on the Parish Council website.

Save on your heating bill

If you're interested in finding out how you could cut your heating bill, why not attend the South Gloucestershire Environment Forum next week?

Council officials and industry experts will be giving a presenation about the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme. The scheme, introduced by the Lib Dems in Government, pays participants that generate and use renewable energy to heat their buildings. It's designed to reduce carbon consumption and save you money and is particularly helpful if you are in an area without mains gas.

The free event takes place at the Greenfield Centre, Park Avenue, Winterbourne from 7pm to 9pm on January 21. Contact Paul Knuckle, Climate Change Officer on 01454 864220 to confirm attendance.

Dairy farm building approved

This afternoon plans to build a dairy farm building next to the wind turbine south of the B4465 at Wapley were unanimously aproved by the DC (East) planning committee.

Dairy farm building application to be decided next Thursday

Plans to build a dairy farm building next to the wind turbine south of the B4465 at Wapley will go before the DC (East) planning committee next Thursday (28th August). The meeting starts at 3pm in Kingswood and the agenda and the officer's report on the dairy farm are available online. The officer’s recommendation is just that – a recommendation. It is the members of the committee who will make the decision on the day. As always, both supporters and objectors have a 5 minute slot in which to address the committee, so if there are lots of people it's worth nominating a spokesperson to speak on everyone's behalf. The local ward member, Claire Young, has a separate opportunity to speak.

Dairy farm application referred to committee

Claire Young has referred the application for a dairy farm building south of the B4465 at Wapley to the planning committee. Dodington Parish Council and residents continued to have concerns despite revised plans being submitted.

Dairy application latest

Last week Claire Young attended the Dodington Parish Council Planning Sub-Committee meeting, along with the applicant for the dairy farm at Wapley and concerned residents. At the meeting, the Parish Council asked for it to be referred to committee and for a site visit to look at concerns about the scale and location of the proposed dairy building. There were also worries about the impact on the water course. Claire has written to the case officer indicating that this is what she will do if the recommendation is for approval.

Application for dairy farm following wind turbine approval

Following the approval on appeal for a wind turbine south of the B4465 at Wapley, the applicant has now made an application to South Glos for a dairy on the land. You can find the details online (if for any reason that link doesn't work, please go to the planning application search page and enter the reference number PK14/1112/F).

Solar Farm connected in time

Last week the Says Court Solar Farm (pictured here from the Bristol to Yate train) was connected just in time to secure the higher rate of Community Benefit for Westerleigh Parish. Under the agreement, some of the money has to be used in conjunction with Avon Wildlife Trust for on site ecological improvements. The rest will be used for environmental projects in the Parish.

Says Court Solar Farm construction

Earlier in the month, Westerleigh Parish Council and ward councillor Claire Young met representatives of AEE Renewables, who applied for planning permission for Says Court Solar Farm, and Sun Edison, the company that are going to construct and run it. The meeting was prompted by residents' concerns that some test piling had taken place outside the hours allowed by the planning permission.

Sun Edison apologised for that and gave assurances that they would be sticking to the permitted working hours (08:00 until 18:00 Monday to Friday, and 08:00 until 13:00 on Saturday with no Sunday or Bank Holiday working). Work was due to start this week, with the main task being to construct the on site roads need during the construction phase. The noisiest phase will be the piling, planned to start in the last week of January and last for approximately 3 weeks.

You can find out more, including the presentation they gave, on their blog. Keep an eye on it for news on the progress of the works. It all needs to be finished by the end of March because then the subsidies go down (and with it the level of community benefit).

Wind turbine approved on appeal

Plans to build a 100kW wind turbine at Wapley, south of the B4465 between Westerleigh and Codrington, have been approved on appeal.

Back in March the DC (East) planning committee refused the application on a majority vote. That decision has now been overturned by a planning inspector, who felt that the benefits of the renewable energy generated outweighed the harmful effects on the openness of the Green Belt.

Find out more about community energy

Energising Communities is an event where you can find out why communities are generating their own energy and what groups are doing elsewhere. The event runs from 11am to 3.30pm on Saturday 16th September in Windhager UK offices, Marshfield, SN14 8SR. The keynote speaker will be Dr Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. There will be a home-made soup and sandwich lunch for £5.

To find out more and book your place, go to the Marshfield Energy Project website.

Says Court Solar Farm approved

This afternoon the planning committee unanimously approved the Says Court solar farm application. The conditions were largely as in the report but with two additions (the conditions ones proposed by the Coal Authority and Network Rail). The condition about what should happen at the end of the 25 years was reworded so that it also required removal of the apparatus if the generation of power ceased some time before then.

Edited to add: During the meeting, officers also clarified the use of the community benefit fund. While still objecting to the application, Westerleigh Parish Council had negotiated on a "without prejudice" basis a community benefit of £1000 per MW generated, which could mean up to £17,500 a year for environmental projects to benefit the local community. Officers emphasised that their recommendation did not depend on this, it was a unilateral undertaking by the applicants, AEE Renewables. In the first year, £7000 will be available for ecological improvements on site, in conjunction with Avon Wildlife Trust.

Planning committee to decide Solar Farm application

The site meeting in July

It’s been confirmed that the DC (West) planning committee will consider the Says Court Solar Farm at their meeting next Thursday, 26th September, starting at 2.30pm in the Council offices in Thornbury. It will be the first application considered at the meeting, although there are some administrative items that always have to be dealt with first.

You can find the agenda online and the officer's report.

The officer recommendation is for approval with conditions. The actual decision will be made by the councillors at the meeting. There will be an opportunity for both supporters and objectors to speak for up to 5 minutes in total, so it makes sense for someone to act as spokesperson. Ward councillor Claire Young has a separate slot in which to speak.

Says Court Farm site visit

Yesterday the DC (West) planning committee visited Says Court Farm. At the entrance to the farm, the applicant, local councillor Claire Young, Westerleigh Parish Councillor Eve Carey and a representative of local objectors all had the opportunity to speak. The members of the committee then went on a tour of the farm and surrounding viewpoints so they could consider the visual impact of the proposals and ask questions.

There is still some work to be done before the application can go to committee. It definitely will not be considered at the next meeting, on 1st August.

Says Court Solar Farm - site visit 19th July

South Marston Solar Farm near Swindon

The site visit for the Says Court Farm solar farm project will take place on Friday 19th July, with an expected arrival time of 2.20pm. Being at the end of a long list of site visits, there is obviously scope for delay. It is proposed that everyone meets at the entrance to Says Court Farm and that those speaking will do so there, residents will not go on to the site. Members of the committee will then be driven around the site and to various vantage points to allow them to assess the visual impact of the proposal. 

You can view both the full agenda and the Says Court Farm report online. At this stage the officer has not made a recommendation to members to approve or refuse the application. The report simply asks the committee members to inspect the site and view it from the surrounding area.

In preparation for speaking at the site visit, local councillor Claire Young has visited two solar farms, one near Swindon and one near Bradford-on-Avon, with one of the Westerleigh Parish Councillors. Although AEE Renewables gave Claire details of where the sites were, she did not tell them when she was going and they were not accompanied by anyone from the company, so the visits were done entirely independently.

While visiting the site, Claire took some pictures. There was a public footpath at the South Marston site, not far outside Swindon, so it was possible to walk about and get right up to the fence. AEE Renewables had said that the concrete foundations are not what is planned for Says Court, so that isn’t representative of this application, but the site did demonstrate fencing, buffer zones etc. The site near Bradford-on-Avon was more tucked away, but it was possible to take pictures over the wall of the neighbouring cemetery.

The pictures hopefully give some idea of the visual impact of the site. Noise was not a problem in either case - you could hear the transformers when you were very close to them but moving away the sound soon became inaudible. If you would like to visit the sites yourselves, the postcodes are SN3 4SF and BA15 1TR. You can also find out more from the AEE Renewables website - there are pages for the Bradford-on-Avon site, the South Marston site and the recently approved solar farm neighbouring the South Marston site.

Appeal against wind turbine refusal

The applicant has submitted an appeal against the planning committee’s refusal of permission to build a wind turbine south of the B4465 between Westerleigh and Codrington.

All the original comments will be sent to the appeal inspector, they do not need to be resubmitted, but if you have any additional points to make to the Inspector the deadline is 25 June. You can find details of the appeal by going to the planning portal and using the reference number: APP/P0119/A/13/2196500.

Solar Farm application - have your say

AEE Renewables have submitted their application for a solar farm at Says Court Farm. You can view the details and make any comments you may have on the South Glos website. The closing date for comments is 1st 10th May.

(Having seen a number of different dates quoted, I checked with the case officer who has confirmed that the deadline for comments is 10th May).

Wind turbine refused

Campaigners at the site visit

An application for a wind turbine at Wapley, south of the B4465 between Westerleigh and Codrington, was yesterday refused by the DC (East) planning committee on the grounds that the special circumstances of the need for renewable energy did not outweigh the harm to the Green Belt.

The applicant said this was the first stage in a project to create a low carbon dairy business, but the application referred only to the wind turbine and officers advised that possible future proposals could not be given weight when determining the application.

Concerns were raised by residents about possible noise and flicker effects at their properties, the nearest of which were less than 300m away.  One neighbour had obtained an expert report which challenged the applicant's noise report and suggested an additional condition be applied. Speaking as the local member I asked whether it would be possible to apply this extra condition if permission were granted to ensure that any noise fears were addressed.

However,  it was not the concerns about noise or flicker that led to the refusal, but the impact on the Green Belt. When a development is proposed in the Green Belt that does not fall into one of a small category that are considered appropriate, the applicant has to show that there are special circumstances to justify it. The need for renewable energy is, according to national planning guidance, a special circumstance. As I said in my comments, many of us agree on the importance of renewable energy, including wind turbines. The issues residents raised were about the specifics of the application.

The committee was being asked to balance this special circumstance against the impact on the Green Belt.  As this was central to the decision,  I had asked the committee to visit the site, rather than simply relying on paper plans. Residents at the site visit (see picture above) felt the harm to the landscape and openness of the Green Belt was significant. After a long debate, a majority of the committee agreed.

The applicant can appeal against the decision to the Planning Inspectorate.

Energy advice

If you missed the recent Energy Day in Westerleigh, the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) have kindly provided some information that you might find useful:

• Information on the Green Deal and whether the supporting ECO could reduce the cost of solid wall insulation  
• Domestic renewable heating, in particular ground source heat pumps and wood burning boilers/stoves  
• How the Renewable Heat Incentive could support/encourage local residents 
• A film giving guidance on setting up a community wood fuel project
• Information, guidance and videos on community solar projects

 More information on CSE's work with community groups and the free resources they offer can be found on their website.

Decision on wind turbine next Thursday

Next Thursday (28th March) the DC (East) planning committee will decide whether a wind turbine can be built south of the B4465 at Wapley. You can view the agenda and the officer's report online.