Parish councils, local residents and a Cornwall councillor have all spoken out against plans for a 230-acre wind farm in the Cornish countryside which will be seen for miles. Windel Solar 4 Ltd has applied for permission to install the solar farm, which could power the equivalent of 11,000 homes per year, on land near . The latest application for a large solar farm on land in the Duchy will be decided by a strategic planning committee on Thursday, August 15.
The local authority's planning department recommends approval, but local councillor Barry Jordan has brought it to committee due to a number of concerns. Windel Solar 4 Ltd - which is being represented by development consultancy, the Pegasus Group - wants to build a ground-mounted solar farm alongside associated infrastructure, including distribution substation upgrades with the capacity to deliver approximately 42MW of renewable energy, on land north of Canworthy House at Canworthy Water. If approved, the solar farm would be close to an existing one on 138 acres of land.
Cllr Jordan, who represents Camelford and Boscastle, has called the application in owing to concerns relating to the loss of good farmland, flood risk, highway safety and potential lack of a link to the National Grid which could necessitate battery storage. However, planning officer Adam Carlyon has recommended that the council's chief planning officer be given delegated powers to approve, subject to conditions. In his report, Mr Carlyon says: "The propo.