Planning policy review calls after solar farm row
LDRSThe government has been urged to review "overly permissive" planning policy wording after a solar farm refusal was overturned at appeal.
Durham County Council leader Andrew Husband made the plea in a letter to North Durham MP Luke Akehurst after the facility, near Burnhope, was given the go-ahead despite hundreds of objections and a High Court appeal.
Akehurst said amending the National Planning Policy Framework would come "too late" to stop the development, but might protect other areas. His office confirmed he contacted the Secretary of State on Friday.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been approached for a comment.
The proposals will see up to 14 fields overlaid with panels, including areas near a nature reserve.
Some residents said the village had been "betrayed", claiming the development would "destroy" the environment.
But applicant Lightsource bp said there were measures to "enhance" it and the scheme had been "carefully" designed to minimise impacts.
'Unwarranted commercialisation'
Husband, who leads the Reform-run council, said the local authority had spent £83,000 "defending this decision to reject this solar farm".
In a letter to the Labour MP, he said other parts of the region were also at risk of being used for similar schemes.
"I would invite you to now support your residents by using your undoubted influence in government to request that urgent action is taken to review the currently overly permissive National Planning Policy Framework policy wording to ensure a more fair and balanced approach to solar development is applied," he said.
"Until government policy is amended in this manner - to introduce a more balanced approach to include one which seeks to protect valued landscapes and respect residents' quiet enjoyment of the same - I fear that we will be subjecting our communities to yet more unwarranted commercialisation of our splendid countryside."
Akehurst said he shared the council's "dismay" about the decision and residents' concerns the location was not appropriate.
"I am angry that residents of the village will lose valued local amenity space and rights of way, and that the beautiful landscape in the area will suffer," he wrote.
"I think that your request that I ask the Secretary of State to review the very permissive wording of the National Planning Policy Framework is a reasonable one. Whilst amending the policy will come too late to stop this development, it might other similar landscapes in the county."
Plans were initially approved by the council in 2023 - a year before Reform took control - but a campaign group won a judicial review, which saw the decision quashed by a high court judge.
An application was resubmitted in 2024 and turned down by the council, but the decision was overturned by the Planning Inspectorate, which said the need to tackle climate change and achieve net zero targets outweighed the concerns.
Additional reporting by Local Democracy Reporting Service.
