Tunstall

Solar Farm

Providing Clean Energy for North Yorkshire

Enviromena is preparing to submit a planning application to North Yorkshire Council for a solar farm located on land between Tunstall and East Appleton.

The proposed solar farm will have a capacity of 22MW per annum. The solar farm will create enough clean, renewable energy to power approximately 11,305 homes per annum. The solar farm would avoid 6,320 tonnes of CO2e annually (compared to other non-renewable forms of energy generation), which is the equivalent of taking 4,746 cars off the road each year.

Where is the proposed site?

Benefits of Tunstall Solar Farm

  • The solar farm will assist North Yorkshire Council in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with national and local targets in response to the Climate Emergency.

  • The project will deliver net beneficial gains for biodiversity. Solar farm installations have a small footprint on the land
    they occupy, leaving considerable scope for biodiversity enhancements. Research has shown that responsibly managed solar farms can play an important role in reducing the decline in biodiversity.

  • Existing trees and hedgerows will be retained and protected and supplemented by additional native species planting to support local habitats as part of a wider ecological network.

  • The development of green projects like Tunstall Solar Farm also creates business opportunities and economic activity which contribute to the country’s green recovery.

  • We are committed to using local suppliers and contractors during construction and long-term operation of the project, which will benefit the local economy, and provide jobs to people in the local area.

  • The proposal does not require the stopping or diversion of any public rights of way.

  • This is a temporary development, allowing the land to rest for the period of operation up to 40 years. Decommissioning and full restoration of the site at the end of life of the development will be secured via planning condition.

  • The project does not require Government subsidies.

Enviromena, the developer of this project, is a clean energy solutions company providing safe, affordable, and reliable solutions for growing sustainable power demands. Headquartered in the UK, Enviromena has more than 16 years’ global experience in developing, designing, constructing, managing, and operating ground-breaking renewable energy projects.

Enviromena have installed over 17,000 power systems globally and currently manages, operates, and maintains over 300 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy assets including solar and energy storage projects. Additionally, Enviromena currently has a further 3GW in construction and development across the UK and Italy.

FAQ

  • The Climate Emergency, the cost-of-living crisis and the energy crunch are all linked by how we generate, use and supply energy. We urgently need to generate energy from new, low cost, low carbon sources and solar is the lowest cost and quickest to deploy of all energy sources.

    It is currently one-ninth the cost of gas and less than one third of the cost of nuclear. The proposed solar farm will generate renewable electricity integral to the UK Government’s overarching policy to provide significant reductions in national greenhouse gas emissions and improved energy security. The Government’s Energy Security Strategy (2022) proposed a five-fold increase in solar by 2035.

    Tunstall Solar Farm will help the UK reach this target and create a greener, cleaner energy future for North Yorkshire. We are committing long-term funding to bring forward renewable energy generation and low carbon programmes which we believe will help deliver a more sustainable future.

  • The solar farm is a temporary development and will not change the land classification. Once the solar farm is no longer in operation it will be decommissioned and the land will return to its previous agricultural usage.

  • The UK Food Security Report (2021) found that “the biggest medium to long term risk to the UK’s domestic production comes from climate change and other environmental pressures like soil degradation, water quality and biodiversity”. Solar farms currently account for 0.08% of total land use in the UK (Solar Energy UK 2022). The Government targets for a fivefold increase in solar would result in 0.3% of the UK land area being used by solar (Carbon Brief, 2022). This is the equivalent to around half of the space used by golf courses.

  • "BNG is an approach to development. It makes sure that habitats for wildlife are left in a measurably better state than they were before the development. In England, BNG is mandatory under Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as inserted by Schedule 14 of the Environment Act 2021). Developers must deliver a BNG of 10%. This means a development will result in more or better quality natural habitat than there was before development.” (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understanding-biodiversity-net-gain).

    Solar farms regularly generate BNG far in excess of the 10% mandatory requirement.

  • The site for Tunstall Solar Farm has been carefully selected as part of a detailed site assessment process. Considerations have been made on all the following, to ensure this site is the most appropriate one for our scheme: grid capacity, land availability, heritage assets, flood risk and agricultural land quality.

  • No. Solar panels have no moving parts and emit no sound. Inverters and transformers can emit very low- level sound, but these are sited away from houses and public rights of way and cannot be heard from more than a few metres away.

  • There is no evidence that solar farms have a negative impact on wildlife. In fact, wildlife thrives within the sites when managed sensitively.

    We are committed to significant net biodiversity gain at Tunstall Solar Farm through the creation of new habitats to support local wildlife. Existing hedgerows will be strengthened, and new hedgerows will be planted to improve habitat connectivity across the site. We will set aside a significant proportion of the land for habitats to support mammals, birds and invertebrates.

    Further ecological enhancement measures such as bird boxes and bat boxes will be placed within the site to encourage those populations to prosper.

  • "We consider that meeting energy security and climate change goals is urgent and of critical importance to the country, and that these goals can be achieved together with maintaining food security for the UK.

    We encourage deployment of solar technology that delivers environmental benefits, with consideration for ongoing food production or environmental improvement. The Government will therefore not be making changes to categories of agricultural land in ways that might constrain solar deployment” (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/642708eafbe620000f17daa2/powering-up-britain-energy-security-plan.pdf).

    There is no food security issue in the UK: “Taking a holistic view across the indicators in the index shows a broadly stable picture as the UK comes out of a challenging period of global supply chain shocks. However, this should be seen in the context of longer-term risk from climate change” (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-food-security-index-2024/uk-food-security-index-2024).

    There is however, a climate crisis/emergency (The Climate Emergency - Hansard - UK Parliament & Climate and ecological emergency strategy - Foreword - Dorset Council).

  • No. There is no policy presumption in national or local planning policy that supports this concern.

    There is a presumption in favour of the development of ‘previously developed land’ for housing, but the NPPF definition of brownfield land is clear that this extends to “Land which is or was occupied by a permanent structure”. The Government’s planning practice guidance is clear that “solar farms are normally temporary structures and planning conditions can be used to ensure that the installations are removed when no longer in use and the land is restored to its previous use” thus voiding any route to claim the land is previously developed as a precursor to housing.

Public Consultation Event

We held a Public Consultation Event on Wednesday 16 October 2024 from 2pm to 7pm
at Tunstall Village Hall, Tunstall Road, Richmond, DL10 7QR.

Please find the boards that were presented at the event here.

Contact Us

If you wish to contact us or require further information, please feel free to use the form (situated to the right) or by the following methods:

Email adress: feedback@alpacacommunications.com

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