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North’s largest solar installation given green light

The final two hurdles in the pursuit of planning permission for the North of England’s largest solar installation at Haigh Hall Farm, south of Leeds, have been overcome.

Leeds City Council’s Planning Committee gave the green light to the proposal on 18 July subject to two outstanding issues being dealth with.

The first related to Leeds Bradford International Airport being satisfied with glint and glare issues and the second involved taking on board landscaping concerns expressed by the Ramblers Association. These issues have now been resolved.

Full planning permission is likely to be granted early next week for the32,000 panel, 14-hectare site at Haigh Hall Farm to be developed and operated by Leeds-based Oakapple Renewable Energy.

The solar farm will sit in part on green belt land and will generate 7,200MWh per annum, providing enough electricity to power 2,000 homes.

It will also deliver carbon savings of 3.8m kilogrammes of CO2 a year.

Oakapple Renewable Energy’s solar installation at Haigh Hall Farm will use photovoltaic panels that do not require direct sunlight, just natural daylight.

The photovoltaic panels will sit one metre above the land, allowing the landowner to continue grazing sheep or to create an environment to encourage wildlife.

Andy Brearley, panning and design manager at Oakapple Renewable Energy, said: “We are delighted with this decision and now look forward to delivering this project.

“Planning officers at Leeds City Council have been very supportive of this scheme and keen to encourage this kind of development. This is a good decision for Oakapple and for the region.”

Oakapple Renewable Energy has been supported by Leeds planning consultancy Turley Associates in securing the planning permission.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Lane .