®Planning appeal decision
Land near to Langford, Langford, Cullompton, EX15 1SG
the construction of ground-mounted solar PV panels to generate up to 49.9MW (site area 60.78 ha) and battery storage facility together with all associated works, equipment and necessary infrastructure. Summary of Recommendation: The appeal be allowed, and planning permission granted subject to conditions
- Authority
- Mid Devon District Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- utilities-energy · Other Major Developments
- Inspector
- Ware P
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- The effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the landscape
- The effect on Langford Court - a designated heritage asset
- The effect on and potential loss of agricultural land
- The safety of the Battery Storage facility (BESS)
What decided it
The very limited and highly localised landscape and visual harm was clearly and decisively outweighed by the substantial national and local policy support for renewable energy generation and the accompanying economic and biodiversity benefits.
the significant weight afforded to renewable electricity production, together with moderate weight for economic benefits and significant weight for additional planting/biodiversity net gain, outweighed the very limited weight attributed to adverse landscape and visual effects, with heritage, agricultural land and BESS safety treated as neutral
Framework references: 48, 56
Plan policies cited: Policy S1, Policy S9, Policy S14, Policy DM1, Policy DM2, Policy DM18, Policy DM25, Policy DM27
Judgments cited: Catesby Estates Ltd. v Steer [2018] EWCA Civ 1697
The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.