General Election delay to decision on proposal for Sunnica solar farm affecting villages near Newmarket

Residents battling the controversial proposal for a massive solar farm which would swamp villages around Newmarket have been told they will have to wait until after the election before a decision is made.

Because of the size of the proposed Sunnica farm, around 2,500 acres – approximately 2,000 football pitches – the proposal is being reviewed under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) process, meaning that it will be decided by the Secretary of State for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.

It is unclear at this stage exactly who that will be post election.

In April, the Government had pushed back a decision for a fourth time until June 20, but on May 30 Parliament was dissolved when an election was called for July 4, so the decision process was disrupted.

Since then, residents and supporters of the Say No to Sunnica community group have been lobbying election candidates fighting the West Suffolk and Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituencies, asking how they would continue to actively campaign for the scheme to be rejected.

The proposed solar farm stretches around 15 miles from end to end and affects 16 parishes and towns along its route. It is planned on greenfield land, including some of the UK’s best, high yielding irrigated farmland.

“This dreadful scheme, with all its deceptions, has been hanging over communities for well over five years now. Its negative impacts, if it were to be approved, would last for generations,” said Dr Catherine Judkins, chairman of the Say No to Sunnica group.

“We need the next Government to recognise that solar can and must be delivered better than this. It can be done and, importantly, with community support if it is in the right place and at the right scale.”

Local farmer Nick Wright, who has spoken at the inquiries into the scheme, said: “Sunnica’s claims that the land is poor quality are unsubstantiated you only have to drive around the vast area included in the scheme and look at the crops growing to see that this is not the case.”

The scheme has not only been rejected by residents but by parish councils, district councils and by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk county councils.

Sunnica said the land used would be decontaminated and returned to its original, largely agricultural use once the scheme was finished.

It said the farm would power 172,000 homes and create 1,500 jobs during construction, with 27 full-time jobs to run it.