Dan Poulter weighs in on controversty as poster campaign launched in opposition to Grange Farm Solar Farm

Campaigners have ramped up their efforts to block the approval of a 223-acre solar farm by sticking up posters across Palgrave.

The application, to build Britain’s second largest solar farm in north Suffolk, has proven wildly unpopular with villagers since it was submitted in May.

Adding his voice to the growing chorus of opposition is Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP Dan Poulter, who this week described the project as a “piece-meal and speculative development”.

Campaigners have plastered 16 signs up across the village, including along Old Bury Road, where the solar farm will be built if it is approved by Mid Suffolk District Council’s planning committee later this year.

The signs warn residents that, if approved, the project will have a devastating impact on biodiversity in Palgrave, as well as spoiling the landscape within the north Suffolk village.

Other signs suggest that the loss of 223 acres of farmland will contribute to rising food prices, and how imported silicone panels used to build the plant undermine its environmental credentials.

Jeremy Moynihan, a campaigner involved in producing the signs, is encouraging as many residents as possible to object to the application before it goes before a planning committee.

The 64-year-old, who lives in The Green, said: “We really want to get the message out to people in the village, so we don’t lose any of the momentum that we’ve been gathering.”

A common sticking point for residents, Mr Moynihan said, was that the project was not as environmentally sustainable as it claims to be.

He said: “When we first registered our objections, we did a lot of canvassing, and we met a lot of people who felt that this project is not actually a green solution. We have seen the objections grow as a result of that.”

On Wednesday, Dr Poulter weighed in, telling residents that he had written to Mid Suffolk District Council on the matter.

He said: “ I have been contacted by a number of residents in Palgrave and, of course, I share their concerns about the proposed solar farm, seeking to deliver a 220-acre solar power station in the heart of Palgrave.

“I also share the concerns and frustrations of residents in Palgrave, the surrounding villages and more widely about the lack of joined-up thinking that continues to dominate energy-related planning applications across mid-Suffolk.

“Until such times as a more strategic, joined-up plan for energy development is drawn up, I fear that we shall continue to see piece-meal and speculative development coming forward at risk to our food security and also to our precious Suffolk countryside.

“This is why I have written to the leader and chief executive of Mid Suffolk District Council and I shall continue to do my very best to support the residents of Palgrave.”

In response to the criticisms, Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE), who are behind the project, said the project will meet an urgent need for renewable energy.

A PACE spokesperson said: "The UK urgently needs to become more energy sufficient, to reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports from abroad. Grange Solar would provide enough renewable energy here in the UK to power 16,000 homes and prevent 11,600 tons of CO2 currently being released into the atmosphere each year from burning fossil fuels.

"That’s the same as removing 9,400 new petrol cars from the roads.

They added that the concerns of residents had helped inform the application.

The spokesperson added: "As with any development, there would be a change in the appearance of the landscape. But we have worked hard to address the feedback we’ve had, to ensure the solar farm appears as sensitively in the surroundings as possible for local residents.

"We’ve made changes including setting the panels back from Millway Lane, removing panels from areas of the site close to Palgrave, reducing the height of panels and planting new hedgerows to screen panels where they may still be visible from other directions.

"No existing trees or hedging will be removed, and our ecology experts have confirmed there will be no harm to protected species or habitats. Solar farms have been proven to provide a net gain in biodiversity compared to crop farming and the planning application we have submitted contains a commitment and measures to ensure an 82 per cent increase in new habitats for wildlife across the site.’

To leave a comment on the application for Grange Farm Solar Farm, click here.