A solar farm the size of 86 football pitches on high-grade farmland has been rejected and decried as “insane” as the developers are told “it should be on roofs and car parks” instead. Developers insist that the installation near Sittingbourne would have created enough power for 11,500 homes, but were told “It isn’t an industrial landscape, it’s the garden of England.” Industria Solar Vigo Ltd originally applied for the sprawling solar farm either side of Vigo Lane and Wrens Road near Borden in May 2023.
Including a control building, switch room, substations, grid connection equipment and compound, the farm would have produced 40 megawatts of power. Any solar farm of 50 megawatts or more is dealt with by the national government as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), rather than by local councils. Planning officers were recommending councillors approve the plans at a meeting on Tuesday (August 6).
In 2019 the authority passed a motion to declare a climate and ecological emergency to try and accelerate action to tackle climate change. The council set one of the most ambitious targets in the UK - to be carbon neutral by 2025 and achieve net zero borough-wide by 2030. Speaking in favour of the bid, Will Mulvany, of planning firm Wardell Armstrong, told councillors: “The applicant has worked diligently to bring together a deliverable scheme to provide over 40 megawatts of clean renewable energy to contribute towards Swale’s climate change obj.