Land at Fendyke Farm, Off Old Fendyke, Sutton St James, PE12 0LX

construction and operation of a solar farm and battery energy storage system (BESS), vehicular access, internal access tracks, landscaping, boundary treatment, cabling and associated infrastructure

Authority: South Holland District Council
Appeal type: major · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Hearing
Development: utilities-energy · Other Major Developments
Inspector: Cowley R

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

The main issue is the effect of the proposal on best and most versatile agricultural land (BMVAL).

What decided it

The substantial benefits of renewable energy generation and storage outweighed the limited and largely reversible harm to best and most versatile agricultural land.

The substantial benefits of the scheme, including its significant contribution to renewable energy generation and storage, outweighed the limited and impermanent harm to best and most versatile agricultural land.

Framework references: 187, 161, 163, 164, 168

Plan policies cited: Policy 1, Policy 2, Policy 31, Policy 31(B)

Read the decision letter on the Inspectorate’s site

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.

What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.

Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.

Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.

Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.

Casework that chases the deadlines. Applications, appeals and conditions with their statutory dates.

The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.