®Planning appeal decision
Land South of Runwell Road, Runwell, Wickford, Essex, SS11 7QH
the installation of a solar farm with battery storage and associated infrastructure
- Authority
- Rochford District Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- utilities-energy · Other Major Developments
- Inspector
- Heywood S
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- the impact of the solar farm development on the openness and purposes of the Green Belt
- the effect of the development on the landscape character and visual amenity of the area
- the impact on heritage assets
- the impact of the development in terms of flood risk and flood policy
- whether any harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations to provide the very special circumstances necessary to justify the development
What decided it
The very substantial benefits of renewable energy generation, energy security, the secured grid connection and BESS co-location clearly outweighed the identified Green Belt, landscape and heritage harms, establishing very special circumstances.
The moderate Green Belt harm (by reason of inappropriateness, openness and purpose), moderate landscape/visual harm and less-than-substantial heritage harm were clearly outweighed by the substantial and very substantial benefits of renewable energy generation, grid connection, BESS co-location and biodiversity net gain, amounting to very special circumstances justifying the development.
Framework references: 56, 143, 152, 155, 156, 157, 163, 168, 209
Plan policies cited: Policy GB1, Policy S11, Policy DM6, Policy DM10, Policy ENV6, Policy DM26, Policy DM13, Policy DM14, Policy DM19, Policy DM19 ii., Policy DM19 iv., Policy S1, Policy DM23, Policy DM18
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.