CPRE Cambridgeshire and Peterborough supports Say No To Sunnica’s campaign

CPRE Cambridgeshire and Peterborough supports Say No To Sunnica’s campaign

Posted on Aug 21, 2024 by jsw  | Tags: Sunnica, Solar Energy

CPRE Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has long been concerned about Sunnica Ltd’s proposal to site a solar energy farm straddling East Cambridgeshire and West Suffolk (you can read our 2022 objection letter here.  Following the decision by Ed Milliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, to approve the scheme - despite the expert Examining Authority recommending that it should NOT be granted as a result of its many negative impacts -we issued a press release.

We contend that it is quite clear that solar panels belong on rooftops and brown field sites rather than prime agricultural land – see our report at https://www.cpre.org.uk/resources/shout-from-the-rooftops-delivering-a-common-sense-solar-revolution/.

We are supporting the Say No to Sunnica action group, who say:

“It feels wrong that the impartial Examining Authority should be overruled on so many points on which they concluded that the harms of this scheme weighed against it being granted. The professional Examiners determined this after carrying out a rigorous 6-month examination during which they heard considerable independent expert evidence, concerns of local people, visited the sites, examined the impact on our communities, our wildlife, our heritage and landscape and on our local economy.  The newly appointed Secretary of State announced his decision after a few days in office.

We feel a shared sense of unfairness that a 5-year process and a planning system that we have all adhered to can be overruled by a seemingly political decision.

We have been so pleased throughout this campaign to have such tremendous support from our communities and remain united with the four district and county councils, parish and town councils, local MPs, combined authority mayor, hundreds of residents, local businesses, nature, countryside and environmental groups, and heritage and recreation groups, in opposing this scheme.

This huge level of opposition in an area that is generally supportive of renewables and already host to solar schemes, as well as a wind farm, biodigesters and battery stores, is testament to the poor quality of this particular “bad solar” scheme.

We have launched a CrowdJustice fundraising campaign to fund a potential Judicial Review action. Visit our CrowdJustice page: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/say-no-to-sunnica-jr/”