Proposal:
Proposal number P23/V2624/FUL. Installation of ground mounted solar photovoltaic array with associated infrastructure, security fence, CCTV, cable route, landscaping, and onsite biodiversity net gain.(as amplified by additional information received 12 February 2024).
Our Response:
Oxford Preservation Trust (OPT) is grateful for the opportunity to comment on the above planning application concerning a proposed solar farm on land to the west and south of Red House Farm, Eynsham Road, Farmoor, Oxfordshire (‘the site’).
OPT is a forward-thinking progressive organisation who fully support renewable and low energy. We also acknowledge the overriding threat of climate change and the essential role that renewable energy will play in delivering a sustainable future. However, the transition to green energy cannot come at any cost. The infrastructure related to clean and green energy must avoid causing substantial harm to the Green Belt; to protected landscapes; and to the character and appearance of the wider open countryside.
Whilst the principle of renewable led energy is strongly supported, great care must be taken to ensure that this is an appropriate site for a development of this nature. A key issue for consideration is the loss of Green Belt land.
This land was originally designated as Green Belt to prevent urban sprawl from Oxford; and to ensure that the land remained open to protect the countryside from encroachment and to prevent the merging of settlements. Indeed, these are 4 out of the 5 purposes of the Green Belt as defined in the NPPF (paragraph 143).
The result of the proposed development will be the long term (and potentially permanent) loss of a significant area of designated Green Belt land. The NPPF attaches great importance to Green Belts. The intention of Green Belt policy around the built-up area of Oxford, is to keep land permanently open and severely restrict development. The most important attribute of Green Belts is openness.
Paragraph 152 within the NPPF states; “inappropriate development is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved except in very special circumstances. Para. 156 then addresses the issue of renewable energy projects and confirms that they will comprise inappropriate development. In such cases, developers will need to demonstrate very special circumstances if projects are to proceed.
OPT urge Officers to consider whether the applicants have demonstrated that very special circumstances exist in this instance to warrant the long-term loss of over 60 hectares of designated green belt land.