English councils drop legal challenge to solar over legal costs

The judicial review challenging the planning consent for a 500MW solar farm on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk will no longer go ahead due to two of the four opposing local authorities withdrawing from the process.

The four local councils – Cambridgeshire County Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, Suffolk County Council, and West Suffolk Council – previously drafted a letter to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero requesting a review of the proposed compensation to local authorities.

West Suffolk Council and Cambridgeshire County Council, yesterday [21 August], decided to withdraw their support to the legal challenge in lieu of pursuing an arbitration process with the developer of the solar farm to agree on fair compensation.

Suffolk County Council and East Cambridgeshire District Council have reiterated that they "remain committed to seeing through the legal challenge" but will not be able to bear the legal fee burden without the support of the other two councils.

A Suffolk County Council representative added: "Cost of legal fees for the two remaining councils versus the likely financial return in a successful outcome was no longer a justifiable use of public funds."

The proposed Sunnica solar farm secured planning permit via a development consent order last month [July 2024] under the newly appointed Labour Secretary of State for Energy, Ed Miliband.

A ruling on the planning permit for this mega-development was previously postponed four times under the Conservative administration for various reasons including additional clarification on potential visual impacts and benefits to the local transmission network.

The project, however, was pushed through to approval within two weeks of Labour Party's Keir Starmer taking over as Prime Minister.

The 500MW Sunnica which also has provisions for a circa 50MW battery energy storage system falls within the jurisdiction of the four English councils, all of which argue that the compensation promised by the developer does not sufficiently cover the proposed cost that local administrators expect to incur.

Although the planning permit for the project falls within the remit of the national government due to its size, the councils assert that their responsibility to oversee construction and future operation to ensure compliance with local interests creates an undue cost burden that needs to be offset by the project proponent.

The four local authorities, initially, were united in their desire to challenge the planning consent and in turn negotiate a more appropriate compensation package but the plan was formally abandoned yesterday.

Addressing the latest development, Suffolk County Council's Deputy Cabinet Member for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, Richard Rout, said: "The Sunnica solar farm was approved by the new government against the recommendation of the independent Planning Inspectorate, who said it should be thrown out. In pulling out of this challenge, the two councils have demonstrated they are intent on serving the interests of the government over the interests of local communities and taxpayers.

"Those councils may suggest now going cap in hand to the developer but that has little chance of success. We must not forget that this is the worst scheme we have ever dealt with and the developer has, to date, shown no interest in properly meeting our costs or properly engaging with local communities."

Sunnica solar farm is set to occupy a 2,700 acre plot near Burwell, on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border.

The project is being developed by a joint venture between Tribus Energy and PS Renewables.

When delivered, it is expected to connect to the National Grid at Burwell substation.