YORK planners are backing a massive solar farm covering 55.9 hectares of farmland in the Green Belt west of York.

The application is from London-based Poppleton Solar, a division of Ampyr Solar Europe UK Holdings Ltd, which began in 2020 and has operations across Europe.

The site is in two parts, on both sides of Lords to the west of Nether and Upper Poppleton villages.

The land is currently Grade 3b (medium quality) farmland growing mostly barley and potatoes.

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In addition to the rows of panels spaced 3.2m-4.8m apart, if approved, there would be ancillary structures including fencing, inverters, a substation, access tracks and a grid connection.

Access to the site would be via Lord’s Lane, Common Croft Lane and Broad Lane Upper Poppleton.

(Image: pic supplied)

The application follows a larger 60ha scheme between nearby Hessay and Rufforth to generate 50MW, which was approved by City of York Council in February this year.

A report prepared for next Thursday’s (Sep 5) meeting of planning committee notes the Poppleton site is open and rolling in character but with no landscape or habitat designations.

The scheme would take 8-12 months to build and would operate for 30 years before being decommissioned.

When fully operational, the report says it would generate up to 32.6MW of electric, enough to power up to 13,000 houses, and reducing annual carbon emissions by 12,500 tonnes.

(Image: pic supplied)

The report notes no objection from Nether Poppleton Parish Council, but the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust opposed due to a lack of information on the potential impact on nesting birds and on biodiversity.

The CPRE (North and East Yorkshire) also opposed due to its impact on the openness of the Green Belt and the loss of productive farmland.

Public consultation led to two letters of objection concerning the Green Belt and Loss of farmland, plus one letter in support, saying it would boost renewable energy production, with less environmental impact than equivalent wind turbines.

Planning staff said the scheme is classed as “inappropriate development” in the Green Belt, needing ‘Very Special Circumstances’ to gain approval.

“The proposal would fundamentally alter the character of the surrounding landscape”, they said, and “it would represent a clear encroachment of engineered built development into what is presently open countryside.”

However, despite being “inappropriate development”, the planners concluded that subject to conditions, “is felt to be acceptable in terms of flood risk and drainage, biodiversity, loss of agricultural land, landscape impact and transportation and access.”

Their recommendation continued: “It is felt that the clear environmental benefits when put in the context of the declared climate emergency, of generation of a significant quantity of renewable energy clearly outweighs the harm to the   Green Belt and the localised harm to the adjoining landscape character.”

Therefore, the scheme was acceptable, meeting government guidance and directives concerning development in the Green Belt. Approval was thus recommended following referral to the Secretary of State.