Mallard Pass: Solar farm plans unpopular with residents and councillors
These will be sent to the Planning Inspectorate, who will make the final decision
A proposed solar farm which could be the biggest in the country has proved unpopular with both residents and councillors.
The Mallard Pass Solar Farm, which would lie partly in Lincolnshire, would be very controversial according to South Kesteven District councillors.
The authority has formally objected to it, citing a lack of clarity on how it would be decommissioned.
In a meeting held today (Thursday), members of the council’s Extraordinary Planning Committee convened to prepare a Local Impact Report (LIR) and written representation.
These will be sent to the Planning Inspectorate, who will make the final decision.
Developers of the solar farm (Windel Energy and Canadian Solar) assert that the project could power 92,000 homes over the next three decades.
However, they didn’t provide any detail about the decommissioning of the site or when a potential replacement phase might occur.
Initial plans also failed to specify how the solar panels would be recycled – an omission that several members believed could lead to a looming environmental catastrophe.
The Mallard Pass solar farm would be more than four miles long | Photo: Mallard Pass
“It’s not always what’s in these reports, sometimes it’s what’s not in them,” said Councillor Ian Selby (Grantham Independent).
“There is nothing whatsoever regarding the recycling of these panels. However, the problem is a lack of specialist infrastructure to manage this problem.”
The representative for Grantham Harrowby later added that the only known site capable of recycling such technology is located in France, suggesting that the problem is far more widespread than initially anticipated.
Councillor Helen Crawford (Conservative) said: “The panels might be there for ten years, they might be there for 80 years, we just don’t know.”
The representative for Bourne West later recognised the necessity for highway improvements along the rural country roads to accommodate large lorries during the construction phase, a point already flagged with Lincolnshire County Council.
“That is a huge planning issue, you are changing somewhere that is small country lanes and you’re going to have 40 tonnes lorries going all down it,” she said.
Several councillors also objected due to a lack of public support for the project.
“I have received more correspondence on this one subject than any other in the last 12 years, and the objections keep coming,” said Councillor Rosemary Trollope-Bellew (Conservative).
“Even those you’d think would support it are against it.”
She later highlighted the high volume of solar farm applications across Lincolnshire, adding, “I don’t want Lincolnshire to become the county with the highest number of solar farms.”
The final decision on the Mallard Pass Solar Farm proposal will not be made by the South Kesteven District Council.
As the project is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) due to its proposed generating capacity exceeding 50MW, the decision lies with the Planning Inspectorate.