Cliff Waterman clarifies position on Sunnica solar farm, near Newmarket, after claims West Suffolk Council 'torpedoed' legal challenge

A Suffolk leader has clarified his position on the Sunnica solar farm after claims his council 'torpedoed' a legal challenge.

Cllr Cliff Waterman, West Suffolk Council's leader, revealed today that he no longer opposed the Sunnica solar farm project — 2,500 acres of solar panels and battery storage planned across West Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

This comes the day after Suffolk County Council and East Cambridgeshire District Council announced judicial review proceedings, in partnership with West Suffolk Council and Cambridgeshire County Council would no longer be pursued.

The proceedings, which concerned a technical issue on the apportionment of fees for planning work relating to the solar farm, were abandoned by the latter two authorities.

This has prompted heavy criticism from Cllr Richard Rout, who deals with Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) at the county council, who said the authorities had 'torpedoed the whole thing' by pulling out.

He added: "The council is not going to be adequately compensated, that means taxpayers now need to foot the bill.

"[Our judicial review] was never going to stop it, but it would've made sure that even if it goes ahead, local taxpayers weren't pushing the bill.

"They've [West Suffolk Council] let down people, they let people believe that they were opposed to the scheme and today, the leader, admitted to supporting it."

To clarify his position, Cllr Waterman said he had to assume the secretary of state, Ed Miliband, had looked at the council's previous objections over the scheme and decided they were not material enough to stop the proposal.

He maintained the council's focus would be on getting the correct amount of planning fees for the work it needs to carry out, getting the maximum community benefit for it and clarifying the rules around these projects.

Cllr Waterman added: "Whether we're for or against it, doesn't really matter because it's going to be built and if I say I'm for it or I'm against it, it's going to have no material effect on what's going to happen.

"I don't want to give residents the false idea that we can stop it, our focus is on getting the best of what's going to happen."

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.

Last month, after Mr Miliband approved Sunnica, the council stated it was disappointed about it and that the solar farm was too big and in the wrong location.

Cllr Waterman did not go as far as to maintain that view and said that stance was taken because the council wanted to test whether there was likely any successful legal challenge.

"The opinion we got back was that any challenge to the planning application itself was very unlikely to be successful," he added, "in other words, it would be a waste of money."

Asked whether he would still support Say No To Sunnica's legal challenge, he said the council was neither in support or against it.

In early August, Cllr Jim Thorndyke, who is responsible for planning at West Suffolk Council, said the authority wished the group 'every success should it decide to pursue a challenge of its own.'.

Cllr Waterman added: "I don't want to discourage them, but I don't want to encourage them."

Cllr Rout did not stop short of maintaining the county council's position and affirmed his support for the group's legal bid.

He said: "We want to see it stop, we think it's a terrible scheme that shouldn't go ahead, it's the worst scheme we've ever seen.

"Like any legal challenge you run the risk of losing, but the surefire way of making sure you lose and making sure taxpayers are out of pocket is not to challenge it at all.

Cllr Rout also said a successful challenge could've meant the four councils would be hundreds of thousands better off — Cllr Waterman disputes this as 'misinformation'.

The West Suffolk leader also maintained there had been no contact with the secretary of state, or ever had an email from Mr Miliband, and the council's decision had been solely based on what it believes is best for West Suffolk residents and businesses.

He added: "There's a lot of party politics going on, but it's coming from the Conservatives — it's childish and petty, I'm lost for words."

Cllr Jon London, from the Liberal Democrats, also commented on Cllr Rout's claims, saying a judicial review would lead to money being wasted as the technical aspect of the challenge would just be corrected and win approval anyway.

He added: “The Conservatives had multiple opportunities in Government to put a stop to Sunnica but chose to run away from the decision and cowardly pass the buck to the incoming Labour government.

“That being said, it is not incorrect for him to suggest that Labour councillors at West Suffolk District Council could be persuaded by their government to act against the interests of residents.

"Of course, this principle also applied to the Suffolk County Council when the Conservatives were in government."

Cllr London also said a better way of investing in green energy would be through more financial support from Government to allow people to install solar panels on roofs, including new housing, and on large industrial estates.