Campaigners fighting plans for massive Sunnica solar farm near Newmarket forced to give up their legal battle

The community campaigners who fought to stop a massive solar farm being built on 2,700 acres of farmland around Newmarket, engulfing 11 villages in the process, have been forced to pull out of their legal action against the Government’s decision to allow it.

Dr Catherine Judkins, chairman of Say No To Sunnica, told SuffolkNews this week: “Withdrawing our legal challenge – knowing that we had a legal case, knowing that the expert examiners had agreed with nearly all of our supporters’ concerns about the damage this scheme would cause, and knowing how close this scheme came to being rejected – was an incredibly tough decision.

“Sadly, the district and county councils had to withdraw their legal action due to potential cost exposure and, unfortunately, we were forced to do the same. In our case, Sunnica Ltd made it very clear that they would challenge any application made by our volunteer-run community group to apply for a cap of our cost liability, which meant that we could face many thousands of pounds in costs, but without any means to pay them.”

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, made the decision that Sunnica could go ahead in July within three days of taking office and said there would be no right of appeal.

The project had been waiting for a decision from the previous government for two years and had been widely condemned by residents, councillors and MPs from all sides.

“It was a stark reminder of how the current Nationally Significant Infrastucture Projects (NSIP) planning system is so heavily weighted in favour of developers, and decisions are seemingly at the mercy of one person’s political ideology,” said Dr Judkins.

“The language we have heard this past week from a few senior politicians of smashing nimbys and taking on those who are seen to be obstructing plans, even when they have legitimate reasons to do so, is also deeply concerning. Such aggressive and divisive talk has no place in politics.

“The net result of this will be disengagement of the public and a raft of poor-quality schemes being rushed through without the necessary scrutiny,” she said.

And she urged residents to continue to support the Say No to Sunnica campaign.

“The fight to oppose this damaging, poor-quality scheme is not over,” she said. “We are aware of at least one other legal challenge still ongoing, which could well lead to a rethink.

“There is simply no need to damage the environment or sacrifice vast areas of high-quality food producing land while striving for net zero and energy security.

“We need the right choices to be made, so please do write to your representatives. We know that the UK can more than meet its solar energy targets using existing rooftops, car parks, brownfield sides and roadsides, just as they do so well in neighbouring countries.

“We need to ensure our politicians differentiate between good solar and bad solar projects and that they continue to recognise that food security is also a matter of national security.”