Councillor 'unbelievably disappointed' Sunnica solar farm set to go ahead
A leading campaign group has now pulled out of a legal challenge against the project
The leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC) has said she'll be trying to help local people as much as possible when a massive solar farm is being built.
It comes as the Say No To Sunnica group has dropped its legal challenge against the project on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border, citing legal fees.
Writing on social media, the group said if their challenge was unsuccessful, it could be liable to paying more than ÂŁ100,000 to other parties involved in the scheme.
Last week, Cambridgeshire County Council and West Suffolk Council both abandoned a judicial review into the Government's decision to approve the solar farm.
ECDC and Suffolk County Council "remained committed to seeing through the legal challenge but were left in an impossible position to continue."
Both councils added that the cost of legal fees "versus the likely financial return in a successful outcome was no longer a justifiable use of public funds."
Councillor Anna Bailey is the leader at ECDC:
"I think it would be a real win if we could find a way for local people to benefit, whether that's getting local energy into local homes that's produced locally rather than it all being pumped into the National Grid," she said.
"There's a lot of work to do around biodiversity; there's a lot of criticism around that, so I think there's a huge amount of work to do in the detail.
"The independent examination said this scheme should not go ahead, and that is why it's so shocking that Ed Miliband gave it permission just eight days into office.
"We've got to work now to do everything we can to make it as painless as possible."
What does Sunnica want to do?
Sunnica want to build the 2,500-acre solar farm across three different sites.
The plans include building solar photovoltaic panels across several fields and each site would be connected to each other by underground cables that link to the National Grid at Burwell substation.
Sunnica Limited says the project will power 172,000 homes and create 1,500 jobs during construction.
At the time Mr Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, made the decision in July, a spokesperson for Sunnica said it is "immensely pleased with the Government's decision.
"Sunnica would make a nationally significant contribution towards the UK’s legal obligation to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and its ongoing energy security."
'Unbelievably disappointed'
Cllr Bailey has not given up all hope that it can help residents deal with the plans.
"It's a national infrastructure project, these things are complex and there's a long way to go, but overall I'm unbelievably disappointed," Cllr Bailey added.
"This is about the right scheme in the right place.