Planning Submission Update - November 2023

RES has submitted a planning application for the 20MW solar farm on land at Boxted, South Suffolk.

The Development

The Boxted Solar Farm proposal has been through a detailed design process and includes solar panels, battery storage containers, inverters, substation, landscape mitigation and biodiversity enhancement measures. Along with the results of site surveys and assessments, we have taken account of feedback from the community and stakeholders. This has resulted in a number of changes being made to the design to ensure the solar farm fits sensitively into the existing landscape whilst maximising the low carbon, low-cost electricity generation.

The Boxted Solar Farm would not pose a threat to food security. One of the biggest risks to food security is the changing climate. According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)⁴, climate change could reduce the UK’s stock of high-grade agricultural land by nearly three-quarters by 2050. Solar farms help to tackle the effects of climate change.

The solar farm has been specifically designed to enable continued agricultural use in the form of sheep farming and the largest proportion of land where the solar farm is proposed has been assessed as subgrade 3b which is not classified as best and most versatile land.

Furthermore, siting the solar farm on land which has been extensively farmed will enable the ground underneath to recover, will help to regenerate soil quality, and contribute to the continued availability of high-quality agricultural acreage for future generations.

The solar panels would sit a minimum of 0.7m off the ground, providing sufficient ground clearance for sheep grazing and allowing sufficient water and light to the ground beneath the panels.

Whilst some of the proposed solar farm is located on north/north-east facing land, the solar panels will be oriented in a south-facing direction. Solar panels do not require direct sunlight to produce energy, they also capture diffuse sunlight. Furthermore, RES propose the use of bifacial solar panels, which as the name suggests, have two sides of solar cells, enabling additional energy generation from the reflected and diffuse light on the rear-side of the panels.

The inclusion of battery storage units as part of the scheme will help to increase the flexibility and generation opportunities of the solar farm, enabling excess generation from the solar farm to be stored, then released back to the grid network during times of no or low generation.

The majority of the site is situated on land designated as Flood Zone 1, i.e. at low risk of flooding. A small area of the northeast corner of the site is located in Flood Zone 2, however, no infrastructure is proposed within this area.

Why Solar?

Solar farms contribute to Net Zero carbon emission targets, enable more energy to be generated domestically improving security of supply, and are the cheapest form of new electricity generation¹, alongside other renewable technologies. This makes solar farms, like Boxted, not just good for the environment but also for the consumer.

A future balanced energy mix is vital to improve the reliability and resiliency of the energy grid and helps to ensure affordability for customers. Experience and research show that it's important to avoid overdependence on any single fuel type.  The future energy mix will be a diverse menu of low-carbon and renewable energy technologies, all pulling together to meet the net zero and energy security targets.

Analysis from the Climate Change Committee⁵ and other independent bodies shows that the UK will need to deploy at least 40GW of solar by 2030 if it is to achieve net zero by 2050.  Solar Energy UK⁶ estimate that around 37% (15GW) of this could be provided by residential and commercial rooftop solar, with the remaining 63% (25GW) coming from large scale ground mounted solar farms.

Landscape and Visual

The site does not lie within a nationally or regionally designated landscape. The site is located within the area currently designated as the Stour Valley Special Landscape Area and, whilst the emerging Babergh and Mid Suffolk Joint Local Plan no longer includes a Special Landscape Area policy, the Landscape and Visual Assessment (LVA), which accompanies the planning application, assesses the proposal against the current adopted local plan for Babergh District Council.

An extensive landscaping plan accompanies the planning application and proposes landscaping and planting measures including:

• New blocks of woodland to reflect the existing landscape character
• Existing hedgerow infilled wherever necessary with proposed native hedgerow species to ensure dense coverage, and maintained at a minimum height of 3.6m
• Extensive planting of native hedgerow trees across the site to reflect existing landscape features and strengthen historical field boundaries
• Flower rich grassland areas within and outside of the perimeter fencing

These measures, combined with existing planting, will significantly reduce potential visibility of the proposed solar farm.

The LVA contains photomontages from 7 viewpoints, as agreed with the Local Authority, around the site. The photomontages show what the solar farm would look at year 1 and in year 7 when proposed new and infill planting has matured. The photomontages can be viewed here.

Cultural Heritage

A Heritage Statement has been prepared for the proposed solar farm and accompanies the planning application. The Heritage Statement assesses the acceptability of the scheme in relation to potential impact on the historic environment and archaeological resource within and surrounding the site.

The Heritage Statement concludes that the proposed Boxted Solar Farm would result in less than substantial harm at the low end of the spectrum on the Grade II listed Moorhouse Farm and Water Hall and no harm to other identified heritage assets.

Biodiversity

The landscaping measures outlined above, as well as reducing potential visibility, will provide wildlife corridors and vital resources for mammals, birds, and insect species.

A Skylark Mitigation Strategy accompanies the planning application and sets out how c. 70 acres of land will provide suitable additional habitat features to support a minimum of nine skylark territories. In addition to the skylark territories, the wildflower rich grassland will offer significantly improved foraging opportunities for skylark nesting adjacent to the solar farm, as the grassland habitats will support a larger biomass of insect prey items than the arable land they will replace.

Perimeter fencing will be in the form of deer fencing and mammal gates within the fencing will allow the free passage of small mammals. Perimeter fencing will be situated inside boundary vegetation.

No trees will be removed to facilitate the solar farm and bat roosting and bird nesting boxes are proposed around the site.

All of these measures combined would enable the solar farm to deliver a biodiversity net gain of 99% in habitat units and 48% in hedgerow units.

Local Benefits

RES seeks to be a power for good in the communities that neighbour its projects by working openly and constructively to ensure meaningful local benefits.

The project could deliver investment into the local economy, particularly during the construction phase when suitably qualified local firms are encouraged to bid for different aspects of construction, construction materials are sourced locally and local transport and plant hire companies used where possible, in addition to local services and amenities. Furthermore, if consented, Boxted Solar Farm would pay business rates annually for the life of the project, helping to fund vital services for all local residents.

Additional recreational benefits and enhancement of the existing Public Rights of Way network could be provided, as part of the solar farm proposal, with the creation of a permissive footpath running alongside the B1066 between Boxted Hall front drive entrance to the footpath junction at Street Farm and other footpath.

We also believe that solar farms should provide direct, lasting benefits to local communities and as part of our consultation we asked the local community for feedback and ideas on priority projects and aims in their area, which may be able to be supported as part of the proposal. Suggestions to date include essential funding for Boxted Church, Boxted Green improvements and a community orchard. We welcome people’s thoughts on these suggestions and any other ideas for community projects which could be supported.

Planning Application

The application can be viewed, and representations on the proposal submitted, on the Babergh District Council website at https://www.babergh.gov.uk/w/application-search-and-comment. The planning reference is DC/23/05127.

Additionally, the planning documents can be viewed and/or downloaded here.

A statutory consultation period will be advertised and held by Babergh District Council to enable the public, as well as statutory consultees, to submit their comments on the proposal. These comments will then be assessed against the proposal and a determination made in due course.

^{1 The homes figure has been calculated by taking the predicted average annual electricity generation of the site and dividing this by the annual
average electricity figures from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) showing that the annual UK average domestic
household consumption is 3,509 kWh (Dec 2022).
2 RES uses DESNZ’s “all non-renewable fuels” emissions statistic of 424 tonnes of carbon dioxide per GWh of electricity supplied in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (July 2023) Table 5.14 (“Estimated carbon dioxide emissions from electricity supplied”). Carbon reduction is calculated by multiplying the total amount of electricity generated by the windfarm per year by the number of tonnes of carbon which fossil fuels would have produced to generate the same amount of electricity
3 The Biodiversity Net Gain Assessment returned the following results: net gain for biodiversity of 99.18% for area habitats and 48.08% for linear habitats (hedgerows).
4 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021-theme-2-uk-food-supply-sources#united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021-theme2-indicator-2-1-15 https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CCC-Accelerated-Electrification-Vivid-Economics-Imperial-1.pdf
5 https://solarenergyuk.org/resource/lighting-the-way-making-net-zero-a-reality-with-solar-energy/}