Next week, Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee will deliberate on contentious plans for a massive solar farm on the outskirts of Sunderland. The proposed site is Usworth House Farm, located near the A194 (M) to the north east of Springwell Village, which currently consists of several agricultural fields within the Green Belt near Gateshead’s urban edge.
Boom Power Ltd submitted the proposal back in January 2023, with the intention of using the land for renewable energy generation through “ground-mounted photovoltaic solar arrays” and related infrastructure. According to the design and access statement provided to local authority officials, the solar farm could produce up to 27.3 MW, contributing significantly to local electricity generation.
The applicants are seeking a 40-year ‘operational lifespan’ for the solar farm, after which it would be decommissioned and returned to its original state. The statement also noted that the solar farm could generate clean renewable energy for over 11,000 homes annually, with an expected CO2 displacement of 12,500 tonnes per annum.
As the majority of the site is within a wildlife corridor, proposals also include landscaping and “biodiversity enhancements” to mitigate the ecological impacts of the development.
New planting, hedgerow creation and additional nesting and refuge/overwintering habitat for wildlife are part of the plan, with the land between and beneath the solar panels proposed for “seasonal sheep grazing”. However, during a council consultation on the plans, the solar farm faced public backlash with 443 objections voicing various concerns.
These objections, summarised in a council report, included “encroachment into and inappropriate development / overdevelopment of Green Belt”, landscape and visual impacts, as well as worries about highway safety, residential amenity and wildlife impacts. Some comments criticised the 40-year “temporary” time period for the solar farm and expressed doubt that the land will ever be restored, while others suggested alternative sites for the solar farm, including former industrial areas and ‘brownfield’ land.
Other concerns included the proposed development “merging Springwell Village with nearby settlements, taking away countryside, visual amenity, wildlife habitats and interfering with the setting and character of the village”. In contrast, there were 32 representations in support during the same council consultation, with comments highlighting the renewable energy benefits and “benefits to people and wildlife”, as well as the solar farm plan being “much better than housing” and solar power itself being an “inexpensive and effective measure.”
Council planning officers, in a report published ahead of a decision-making Planning and Highways Committee on January 6, 2025, have recommended the solar farm for approval. The solar farm would consist of approximately 59,319 solar PV panels and PV modules would be mounted on metal racks and laid out in multiple arrays in parallel rows, according to planning documents.
The point of connection to the electrical grid would be on the application site and a substation compound would be constructed adjacent to the existing pylon, housing “transformer and switchgear infrastructure and tower structures”. Council planners said the generation of renewable energy would “contribute to meeting national net zero targets” and Sunderland City Council’s “low carbon action plan”, and that “significant weight” should be given to these factors in the planning balance.
It was also noted that “significant biodiversity net gain” would be delivered within the application site, which would “provide noticeable and beneficial improvements for the area”. Council planners acknowledged that the development would be “inappropriate development in the Green Belt” and would “harm” its openness, “both spatially and visually”, but said the solar farm would still be acceptable, subject to conditions.
This included the completion of a section 106 legal agreement to secure plans to “mitigate and compensate for impacts on farmland birds, and to secure the delivery of significant biodiversity net gain (BNG)”. It was argued that the “public benefits” of “substantial renewable energy” and “significant BNG” within the site would “amount to very special circumstances” to justify development within the Green Belt.
The council committee report adds: “It is acknowledged that the proposed development would cause moderate adverse impacts from surrounding views, localised major adverse impacts from public rights of way within the site, and localised major adverse impacts spatially from within the site due to the loss of openness and the introduction of man-made elements, together with the reduction to/loss of recreational enjoyment.
“It is also acknowledged that the proposed development would cause negligible adverse impact on best and most versatile agricultural land for the lifetime of the development.
“However, the applicant has secured a grid connection with the National Grid and demonstrated that there [are] no other less sensitive sites available / suitable to accommodate a solar farm of the scale proposed. The proposed development would also have no other unacceptable impact in relation to heritage assets, highway and pedestrian safety / air traffic, other ecology matters, flooding / drainage, land contamination and archaeology subject to the discharge of and compliance with recommended conditions.”
Councillors on the Planning and Highways Committee will be asked to vote on the planning application at a meeting next week. If approved by councillors, the application would still need to be referred to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government due to impacts on the proposed Green Belt location.
The council meeting to decide next steps for the solar farm is scheduled to take place on Monday, January 6, 2025, at City Hall. The meeting is expected to start at 5.30pm and will be open to the public. For more information on the planning application, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 22/02803/FU4
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