Councils abandon legal fight over massive Sunnica solar farm near Newmarket
A legal fight by councils over a massive solar farm around villages near Newmarket has been abandoned.
Suffolk County Council and East Cambridgeshire District Council said judicial review proceedings, over a technical issue concerning the apportionment of fees for planning work relating to the Sunnica solar farm development, will not be pursued.
The authorities, along with West Suffolk Council and Cambridgeshire County Council, had sent a pre-action protocol letter to Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.
However, West Suffolk and Cambridgeshire are no longer continuing with the process.
Cllr Cliff Waterman, leader of West Suffolk Council, said the initial cost would have been £100,000 which could very easily have spiralled and they didn’t want to spend taxpayers’ money on an expensive legal case.
“We had a chance to win but it wasn’t a good chance,” he said.
He said Suffolk County Council was ‘trying to make a political point and make themselves look like the great defenders of something’ when they knew the challenge was ‘futile’.
“If they think this is something that is worth pursuing they can afford to do it - but clearly they don’t,” said Cllr Waterman.
“For our part, we do not believe this is a good use of scarce taxpayers’ money.”
Cllr Waterman said the judicial review was never about challenging the whole decision to approve Sunnica.
The councils received legal advice and were told there were no grounds for such a challenge to quash the Sunnica decision.
Suffolk County Council and East Cambridgeshire District Council said they had remained committed to seeing through the legal challenge but were ‘left in an impossible position to continue’.
They said the cost of legal fees for the two remaining councils versus the likely financial return in a successful outcome was no longer a justifiable use of public funds.
The Sunnica development will see 2,500 acres of solar panels and battery storage installed across parts of West Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Councillor Richard Rout, Suffolk County Council’s deputy cabinet member for nationally significant infrastructure projects, said they were deeply disappointed by West Suffolk Council and Cambridgeshire County Council’s decision.
He said: “Those councils may suggest now going cap in hand to the developer but that has little chance of success. We must not forget that this is the worst scheme we have ever dealt with and the developer has, to date, shown no interest in properly meeting our costs or properly engaging with local communities.”
All four councils had earlier received a response from Mr Miliband to their pre-action protocol letter in a bid to secure appropriate funding.
That reply outlined the government’s position to defend its decision to grant permission for the Sunnica project.
Sunnica will be built across four sites, one near Mildenhall and West Row, another near Freckenham and Worlington and on two other sites in East Cambridgeshire close to Newmarket.
The Say No to Sunnica action group has also started a legal challenge to the decision and has applied for a judicial review.
The group has launched a CrowdJustice campaign for donations at www.crowdjustice.com/case/say-no-to-sunnica-jr with £13,710 pledged so far and a target of £24,000.
A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson confirmed it will not be taking part in a judicial review.
They said: “This is a decision that was made by the joint administration and took into account the previous legal advice, the importance of offering value for money to our taxpayers and the low likelihood of a challenge succeeding.”
