Agenda and minutes

Any information received after the agenda has been published, relevant to the Applications on the agenda to be considered by the Committee, will be published here.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors North, Simons, Kreling, Sylvester and Harrington.

Councillor Ash was in attendance as substitute.

At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members’ interests or is a “pending notification “ that has been disclosed to the Solicitor to the Council.

Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman addressed the Committee and advised that there had been a request received from the press to be permitted to take photographs throughout the proceedings. The Committee’s approval was sought and this was agreed unanimously.

There had been a further request from a member of the public to be permitted to audio record the proceedings. The Committee’s approval was sought and this was agreed unanimously.

The site area was approximately 100.6ha and was predominantly Grade 2 agricultural land. To the west of the application site were residential properties which ran parallel to Black Drove, one of which (Thorney Lodge) was Grade 2 Listed.

To the south was Thorney Golf Club, which benefitted from partial screening by an established row of conifers. To the south-east was Priest Farm.

The site was located within the Peterborough Fens character area (Policy CS20 of the Peterborough Core Strategy DPD (2011). To the north and east, as with the immediate surroundings, the landscape was predominantly flat/level with open drainage ditches within and adjacent.

The Nene Wash, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Protection Area (SPA), Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and RAMSAR site was located approximately 6km south of the application site. Within 1km of the application site there were several sites of known archaeology. The site was within a Flood Zone 3 and a Mineral and Waste Safeguarding Zone.

Permission was sought for;

·           144,060 panels, which would be arranged in sections of either 50 metres x 5.85 metres or 16.7 metres x 5.85 metres and would stand at 700mm above ground level and 3.4 metres to highest point;

·           The panels would be affixed to piled metal frames;

·           Within a Substation compound would be the control building and operation centre (40 metres (l) x 15 metres (w) x 6.5 metres (h) and two switch stations and transformers, surrounded by a 3 metre high palisade fence;

·           Twenty-three invertors buildings each with a floor area of 5.4 metres (w) x 3 metres (l) and a height of 2.8 metres;

·           A 2.4 metre high mesh fence to surround the site;

·           Underground cables to a depth of 1.15 metres;

·           18 x CCTV stands at 5 metres in height; and

·           A network of internal roads to be compacted hardcore.

·           Access to the site from Black Drove, at the southern most point of the application site.

The proposal would create 14 full time equivalent jobs and produce up to 26MW of electricity.   

In response to the Local Planning Authority’s concerns the site compound and its control building, associated apparatus and access had been relocated to the eastern edge of the application site (Drwg S2-ENG-301 B).

As indicated by drawing NTS-2(R) A3 the parcel of land west of Black Drove was no longer proposed for development. This had led to a reduction in the overall site area and the number of proposed solar panels.

The following applications for planning permission had also been submitted to the Local Planning Authority;

·           12/01904/FUL - Installation of a solar farm with an installed power capacity of up to 8MW, comprising the installation of photovoltaic panels, associated boundary fencing, security and CCTV cameras, site access and associated electrical infrastructure including a switch station, inverter units and transformer and temporary construction compounds at Land To The South Of America Farm, Oxney Road, Peterborough (Pending Consideration).

·           12/01906/R3FUL - Installation of a solar farm with an installed power capacity of up  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.