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Cleve Hill solar: CPRE Kent calls on Swale council to resist developer's bid to push boundaries of agreement
CPRE Kent is deeply concerned by the latest developments at Cleve Hill, the site set to host the country’s largest solar farm.
We have a standing objection to this application and have been vocal in our opposition to the scheme. We are therefore disappointed and alarmed to see the applicant is continuing to push the boundaries and expand upon what was previously agreed.
It should be being made clear to the public that this is not simply a request from the applicant for Swale Borough Council to sign off previously-agreed details. Rather, the applicant is seeking to vary and change what had been previously agreed. This is not being made clear within the submission.
These changes include:
• The developer is now proposing to use larger solar PV modules.
• It is proposing use of ‘half tables’, which face now may face east or west.
• The diversion of UKPN’s existing 11kV overhead-line will be now overhead for 65 metres when this was originally to be underground.
• The top height of the flood protection bund has been increased by 300 mm to a height of 5.616 m
• The total area of the electrical compound, including the whole of the flood protection bund, is proposed to extend to a total of 11.4 ha whereas the approval allows for 10 ha only
• There are to be new access tracks to each of the transformer stations from the spine road. This results in new area of stone road amounting to 13,950 sq m of additional material to construct this additional trackway.
• There are also more minor proposed changes, such as the number of pyranometers are to be increased from 15 to 50
Proposed changes such as the use of larger modules, change in orientation of tables, new overhead power lines and increased bund heights will all alter the landscape impact from that approved.
Increased roadways have an inevitable impact upon on-site biodiversity and drainage, along with the wider environmental impact associated with the additional construction materials.
CPRE Kent reminds the council that the requirement under Regulation 19 of the DCO only allows it to give its approval to changes considered to be immaterial changes.
This includes the requirement that any changes may not give rise to any materially new or materially different environmental effects. While some of these changes might be viewed as incremental and therefore immaterial in isolation, quite clearly the in-combination changes amount to a material change.
Even if the council does view some of the proposed changes as incremental and therefore immaterial in isolation, it is our view the in-combination changes amount to a material change from the authorised development as approved.
We would therefore call on the council to resist this mission creep and reject outright this request to vary the approved development.
- To read more on Cleve Hill, click here
Thursday, July 11, 2022
- A number of important documents have yet to emerge. For example, a rigorous transport plan and a finalised air-quality assessment. The latter is critical given that allocations at Teynham will feed extra traffic into AQMAs.
- There seems to be no coherent plan for infrastructure delivery – a key component of the plan given the allocations being proposed near the already crowded Junction 7.
- There seems to have been little or no cooperation with neighbouring boroughs or even parish councils within Swale itself.
The removal of a second consultation might have been understandable if this final version of the plan were similar to that being talked about at the beginning of the consultation process. It is, however, radically different in the following ways:
- There has been a major shift in the balance of housing allocations, away from the west of the borough over to the east, especially around the historic town of Faversham. This is a move that raises many concerns.
- A new large allocation, with accompanying A2 bypass, has appeared around Teynham and Lynsted, to which we are objecting.
- Housing allocations in the AONB around Neames Forstal that were judged “unsuitable” by the council’s own officers have now appeared as part of the housing numbers.
- Most of the housing allocations being proposed are on greenfield sites, many of them on Grade 1 agricultural land – a point to which we are strongly objecting.
Concerns about the rush to submit the plan
The haste with which the plan is being prepared is especially worrying given the concentration of housing in Faversham. If the town is to take a large amount of new housing, it is imperative that the policies concerning the area are carefully worked out to preserve, as far as possible, the unique nature of the town. The rush to submit the plan is likely to prove detrimental.
As Swale does not have a five-year land housing supply, it is open to speculative development proposals, many of which would run counter to the ideas contained in the current plan. Some are already appearing. This is a common situation, and one that, doubtless, is a reason behind Swale’s haste.
Our overriding fear, however, is that this emphasis on haste is ultimately going to prove counterproductive. This is because it is our view that the plan, in its current form, is unlikely to pass independent examination. We are urging Swale to listen to and act upon the comments being made about the plan and to return the plan to the council with appropriate modifications before submitting it to the Secretary of State.
Essentially, this means treating the current consultation not as the final one but as the ‘lost’ second consultation.
The consultation ends on Friday 30 April and we strongly urge residents to make their opinions known if they have not already done so.
Further information
