Plans for ‘sea of glass’ solar farm on farmland rejected

ITV News’ Kathy Wardle spoke to opponents at county hall
Plans for a 210-acre solar park near Truro have been rejected by Cornwall Council.
Around 30 campaigners gathered ahead of the meeting at Truro’s New County Hall to oppose the plans, which some described as a “sea of glass” during a lively debate.
The solar farm proposed by developer Downing Renewable Developments would have covered at least 120 acres of agricultural land in solar panels, 900 metres to the west of the Carland Cross junction.
Permission to operate the farm with an output up to 49.9MW was sought for a period of 30 years.
The application had been recommended for approval subject to conditions, but was rejected by Cornwall Council’s Strategic Planning Committee.
Arable and pig farmer Nick Dymond from Trispen was among opponents at the meeting.
He told ITV News: “They have to vote on the day for what they believe in, and I hope that a tide is turning now as the council and the planning process begins to understand the need to address the food security and renewable energy production balance.”
Fellow farmer and protester Peter Lawrence from Mylor said: “Our concern is the amount of agricultural land that is being lost to solar farm development in the county. We think enough is enough.”
Ken Evans is a Trispen resident whose home, along with a holiday cottage and wedding business, would have been surrounded by the farm.
In a tearful interview, Ken described how he’d been impacted by the proposals.
He said: “It has already cost us a lot of money, with the weddings and holiday lets. We’ve lost a lot of time and worry over it all. We felt like we’d be caged in with the farm all around us.”The proposed farm would have been the largest in Cornwall, at a total of 210 acres when including the battery storage, substations and fencing across agricultural land.In a statement, the applicants behind the Fair Park scheme Downing Renewable Developments said: “We thank the planning committee for considering our Fair Park project today.
“Whilst not the decision we wanted for the project, we are confident that there is a need for projects of this nature to help meet the UK government, as well as Cornwall Council’s, renewable energy targets and we will review our next steps in due course.”