Epwell Grounds Farm 13/01600/F Shutford Road Epwell OX15 6HF
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Epwell Grounds Farm 13/01600/F Shutford Road Epwell OX15 6HF Ward: Sibford District Councillor: Cllr. Reynolds Case Officer: Rebekah Morgan Recommendation: Approve Applicant: Mr Bart Dalla Mura Application Description: Solar Park Committee Referral : Major application Committee Date: 9 January 2014 1. Site Description and Proposal 1.1 The site is an area of farmland adjacent to Epwell Grounds Farm complex, which lies to the north of Epwell Road, approximately 950m to the south of the village of Shenington, 1.2km to the north-west of the village of Shutford and 850m to the west of The Plain Road. 1.2 The topography of the wider landscape is varied, scattered with a number of small hills. To the north-west of Shenington village is Shenington gliding club and airfield (1.2km from the site). 1.3 The site is made up of a single field currently under arable production with existing hedgerows along the boundaries. A public right of way is immediately adjacent to the site following the northern and eastern boundaries. 1.4 The proposal seeks consent for the construction of a solar park, to include the installation of solar panels to generate up to 7MW of electricity, with control room, fencing and other associated works. The application boundary measures 15.07 hectares; the number of individual panels has not been specified. 2. Application Publicity 2.1 The application has been advertised by way of a press notice, site notice and neighbour letters. The final date for comment on this application was 24th December 2013. One letter was received raising the following concerns: • Visual impact, being such a large site 3. Consultations 3.1 Epwell Parish Council – An initial objection was raised due to visual implications being such a large site. Following a re-consultation (due to environmental compendium being made available to view online) the parish council raised no objection but commented that ‘ Please ensure screening is maintained to a suitable height’. 3.2 Shenington with Alkerton Parish Council – Shenington with Alkerton Parish Council have discussed this application and have the following comments: 1. The Parish considers it important that if the Council were to grant planning consent, it should apply a condition that prohibits any traffic associated with the solar park during its construction, operation and decommissioning from passing through local villages including Shenington and Alkerton. The village roads are narrow, windy and have no footpaths. They already suffer from excessive traffic at certain times of day and drivers travelling too fast for the road conditions at all times of day. In particular, they are highly unsuitable for HGVs. 2. The D&A statement says that construction of the solar park would take about three months with about 100 HGV deliveries and maximum of ten movements per day using Sugarswell Lane and other lanes from the A422. Those lanes are not appropriate for HGVs but the alternatives are even less suitable. The Council should note that those lanes within the parish have a median width of 4.6m, a minimum width of 4.2m and one or two dangerous bends and blind hills. 3. It is proposed to construct the solar park in a field that is part of Epwell Grounds Farm. The parish of Shenington and Alkerton is about 400m to the north and 600m to the east of the proposed park. The D&A statement says that there is a “tall dense hedgerow” on the northern boundary of that field. Otherwise, it is silent on the impact of the solar park on the area to the north and east. It is not easy to assess whether the hedgerow would be sufficiently tall and dense to adequately screen the solar array which would be about 2.6m high. We suggest that the applicants construct a mock-up of a single solar array and position it at various points in the field so visibility can be assessed more effectively. 4. Notwithstanding the above, we believe the proposed solar park would be visible from the Alkerton / Shutford road in the vicinity of Alkerton Grounds. It is not clear whether the solar park would be visible from footpath 339/1 but we think it would not be visible from footpath 339/2 and Shenington village. 5. Shenington airfield lies to the north of the site. We suggest that the Council consults with the Shenington Gliding Club whether reflections from the solar arrays would be hazardous for the pilots of gliders and powered aircraft using the airfield. Following the re-consultation Shenington with Alkerton Parish Council have the following further comments on this application: The claim in 2.10 about road width is wrong. The minimum carriageway width required for two HGVs to pass is 5.5m and, for an HGV and a car, about 4.7m. But Sugarswell Lane is 4.8m to 4.9m wide as it approaches the cross roads with Tysoe Road. The lane between those cross roads and Christmas Corner is 4.5m to 4.6m wide. And the lane from the junction with Rattlecombe Road as far as Epwell Road varies from 3.95m to 4.75m in width. That includes a blind bend/hill where the lane is about 4.5m wide. In order for two HGVs to pass along these roads, at least one of the HGVs would be required to travel on the grass verge and both would need to be travelling at slow speeds. There are no formal passing places. In some places, similar evasive action would be necessary if an HGV and a car were to meet. The associated dangers could be minimized if the HGVs were required to travel in convoy each day preceded by a warning vehicle. The assertion of 3.15 gives a false impression. The lanes from the entrance to Bruce Hopkins / kart club to Epwell Road are not normally used by HGV traffic. Concerning 3.16, currently the lane outside the entrance to Bruce Hopkins / kart club is in poor condition apparently having suffered subsidence with associated surface damage. If the application is approved, the applicants should be required to contribute to the renovation of the road surfaces along the lanes after the construction phase has ended. 3.3 Wroxton Parish Council – No comments received. 3.4 Shutford Parish Council – Shutford Parish Council has no comments at this moment but would ask that if Cherwell DC grant permission then a routing agreement is put in place to prevent heavy lorries coming through Shutford during the construction of the Park. 3.5 Cotswold AONB Conservation Board – The site has been visited by the Planning Officer of the Cotswolds Conservation Board. This has confirmed the findings of the applicant's LVIA that from locations within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) the proposed solar farm will not have any significant adverse impacts on views from the AONB. This is due to the topography of the area, intervening vegetation, mitigation measures and the orientation of the solar panels. The Conservation Board therefore has no objection to the proposal on grounds of impact on the landscape, scenic beauty and special qualities of the Cotswolds AONB. Cherwell District Council Consultees 3.6 Landscape Officer – The site is located on a flat plateau to the north of Epwell grounds farm. There is a public footpath running along the north side of the site. The site is surrounded by hedgerows, but some of these are rather weak and gappy. The landscape and visual assessment is a fair assessment of the impact of the proposal. I don't propose to repeat the findings of the report. Only when viewed from the footpath to the north of the site will the site have significant visual impact. Even this will be screened to a reasonable extent particularly in summer. The boundary hedgerows from VP's 1 and 3 show weak hedgerows which need re- enforcing. I am disappointed to see that although mention is made of planting hedgerows and trees and enhancing the wildlife corridor in the D and A statement and Planning Supporting Statement I can't see any proposal. Since over-shadowing affects the panels this should be designed into the scheme not added on later when the layout is fixed and agreed. There is another application for a Solar Farm at Long Hill very close to this site but since the first site is on the other side of Long Hill there will be only glimpsed visibility of the backs of the panels in winter there will be negligible cumulative impact caused by this proposal. I question whether this proposal requires a weldmesh security fence in this location. The Long Hill proposal is using a 1200m high post, stock and wire fence which is far more appropriate in a rural location. A black weldmesh fence 2.5m high will be higher than the existing hedgerow and in my view is unnecessary. 3.7 Conservation Officer – The proposed site for the solar array is adjacent to and NE of the listed farmhouse and barn. The site is level at around 170m elevation. The proposal involves no immediate loss of historic fabric. The array and the protective fence cannot be described as picturesque but the array by its very nature and that of the technology can be viewed as temporary and therefore while the presence of the array does have an impact on the setting of the built heritage on balance this impact cannot be described as unduly harmful. 3.8 Ecology Officer – The proposed site is an arable field and as such it’s conversion into a solar park will have a minimal ecological impact.