'Inappropriate' solar farm plan refused at appeal

CONTROVERSIAL plans for a solar farm have been rejected at appeal by a planning inspector, after being deemed “inappropriate development in the green belt”.

- By CHRIS BINDING

Earlier this year, Sunderland City Council's Planning and Highways Committee convened a meeting where they decided to block plans for land at Usworth House Farm, located to the north east of Springwell Village on the outskirts of the city.

The proposed site consists of several agricultural fields and is situated within the green belt near Gateshead’s urban edge.

Boom Power Ltd, the applicant, had proposed using the site to generate renewable energy by installing “ground-mounted photovoltaic solar arrays” along with associated infrastructure.

The plans included approximately 59,319 solar PV panels and PV modules mounted on metal racks and arranged in multiple arrays, as well as a substation compound housing “transformer and switchgear infrastructure and tower structures”.