Application submitted for 500MW Light Valley Solar scheme

An application has been filed with the Planning Inspectorate for consent to build a huge solar development in the North Yorkshire countryside

Island Green Power says the Light Valley Solar scheme would provide enough power for 115,000 homes a year.

The 500MW development is proposed for 1,020 hectares of agricultural land between the villages of Escrick, Monk Fryston, Hambleton, Chapel Haddlesey and South Milford, near Selby.

Light Valley has been declared a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), meaning it will be decided by the Secretary of State rather than local councillors after being assessed by the Planning Inspectorate.

A spokesperson for the Inspectorate said they received the application on Tuesday.

Officials will now consider whether to accept the application for consideration, with a decision made by March 10.

No comments can be submitted on the application until it has been accepted.

But the plans have already attracted strong criticism from local communities.

Campaign group Rooftops Not Countryside – North Yorkshire Against Light Valley Solar says it is opposed to the scheme due to its “vast scale and inappropriate placement”.

The group claims the development would damage the lives of thousands of local residents and turn the countryside into a “vast industrial estate”.

The ‘wrong plans’

Louise Billingham, from the group, said: “As a campaign group, we are absolutely for green energy production, but feel that these are the wrong plans, on the wrong scale, in the wrong place, being put forward by the wrong people.

“Green energy production should involve local residents and landowners, be genuinely sustainable, supportive of nature, and focused first and foremost on producing clean energy responsibly.”

Council planners have also raised concerns about the effect of what would be one of the UK’s largest solar energy schemes on the physical and mental health of the local population.

North Yorkshire Council offices said the approach to assessing the dangers of the scheme taken by the developers risked underestimating the impact on local residents.

And earlier this week, North Yorkshire councillor John McCartney said government policy which encouraged solar schemes on fertile agricultural was “barking mad” during a debate on the scheme.

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