Plans for large 43MW solar farm between Harrogate and Ripon approved despite flooding concerns

Members of North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee on Tuesday (December 10) approved the scheme on 66 hectares of land near the villages of Wormald Green, Bishop Monkton and Burton Leonard, after hearing it could provide enough energy to power 12,000 homes.

As well as ground-mounted solar panels, the plans from Harmony WG Solar Limited include access to the A61, internal access tracks, a substation, two power stations, pole mounted CCTV, fencing and landscaping.

Councillor Keith Townson, from Burton Leonard Parish Council, spoke out against the scheme at the meeting.

He said villagers were not against solar farms, but added: “Many consider that agricultural land should be used to grow food either for humans or for the animals that provide for us and that there are more appropriate sites for solar panels than green fields.”

Councillor Townson said residents were worried the solar farm could exacerbate flooding issues in the village.

“Water, even in just normal rainfall let alone the storms that we recently experienced, will not just drip off the bottom panels but will stream off the total length of all these rows of solar units.

“Flooding will be worse in a village already hit by crisis flooding.

“In the 70s, Burton Leonard flooded once or twice a year.

"We now have four or five major floods and it’s getting worse at an increasing rate.”

Frances Nicholson, development director at Harmony Energy, acknowledged the concerns about flooding but denied the development would increase the problem.

She said: “The specific benefits of this scheme include enough power to supply 12,000 homes with their average annual electricity needs.

“It will also make a significant contribution to securing our homegrown energy supply and will provide £40m of supply chain contracts all contributing to high-skilled jobs and UK taxes.

“Nearly £10,000 per annum in business rates will be created and there will be a huge uplift in biodiversity net gain of 204 per cent.”

She added: “Ultimately the scheme will not increase the flood risk either and that’s been agreed with the lead local flood authority.”

Planning committee member Councillor Andy Brown said he was unsure if the scheme would contribute to flooding.

“It’s difficult isn’t it because on the one level we’re saying we’re getting flooding in the villages because of climate change and on another level we’re saying we need solar panels.

“But this is an unfortunate location in some respect.

"It’s on some of the good agricultural land and I think we’d all prefer it if the motorway service stations of this world had solar panels on them rather than the good agricultural land.”

Despite these concerns, Councillor Brown proposed the scheme be approved.