Government approves large solar farm near Howden.
A large solar farm in East Yorkshire has been given the go ahead by the government.The 3,155 acre (1,277 hectares) site will be built on land around Gribthorpe, Spaldington and Wressle and Howden.Its developers said it would produce 400 megawatts of electricity - enough to power 100,000 homes.One local protest group said there was "severe disappointment" that the site was approved.
Due to the size of the scheme the planning application was handled by the Planning Inspectorate as it was classed as national infrastructure.A letter outlining the decision said that the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband "has concluded that the public benefits associated with the proposed development outweigh the harm identified, and that development consent should therefore be granted".The solar farm would connect to the National Grid at the Drax substation in North Yorkshire.Developer Boom Energy said it would plant additional trees and hedgerows and develop wildlife habitats across the site.George McManus, spokesman for East Riding Against Solar Expansion (ERASE), said the approval "brings us a step closer to enormous swathes of agricultural land being blanketed in a million, Chinese manufactured, solar panels."He added: "Other projects in the pipeline will see another 20,000 acres disappear under glass. "The East Riding is being industrialised and people need to wake up to that."Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
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