solar farms
More than 80 acres to be used for Dengie solar farm
Thursday 11 April 2024
Try as we might to argue the case for rooftop solar, our landscape still bears the brunt of the march of solar farms across the county. Maldon District Council’s planning committee has granted permission for the development of 81.5-acre Dengie Solar Farm south of Dengie village. A previous application had been refused permission in July […] Read more >
Investing in Rochford? Here comes another solar farm…
Tuesday 28 November 2023
“It is really great these companies come to Rochford and want to invest in Rochford in these ways to generate electricity to make us less reliant on carbon and foreign country supply.” The above words from Rochford councillor Daniel Efde, as reported by the BBC, give an idea of how some people think. Whether many […] Read more >
Solar farms: booklet highlights the factors to consider when deciding on proposals
Thursday 8 September 2022
The issue of solar farms is never far away as the applications continue to flood in and CPRE Essex has already issued a policy statement on the matter. We have also got together with our friends and neighbours at CPRE Hertfordshire, along with a range of other organisations, to produce a booklet entitled The Problem […] Read more >
Concerns over wildlife impact, road safety and nearby power lines sink plans for solar farm
Thursday 10 February 2022
So they can be stopped… Plans for a solar farm to be built between Manuden and Berden, on the Essex-Hertfordshire border, have been blocked by Uttlesford District Council. Low Carbon Solar Park 6 had applied to both East Herts and Uttlesford district councils for permission to develop its Pelham Spring solar park but failed to […] Read more >
Veganuary, solar farms, neonicotinoids, greenwash… it’s all there in the first talk of our winter series
Friday 28 January 2022
The first speaker in our series of winter talks didn’t pull any punches when he got things under way this week with The Importance of British Food Production. Essex farmer Tom Bradshaw, vice-president of the National Farming Union, gave the talk via Zoom to a healthy audience of 29 people on Wednesday (January 26). Launching […] Read more >
Solar policy and climate-change strategy: two issues guaranteed to stir opinion
Wednesday 1 September 2021
It’s good to see member Richard Haynes keeping the name of CPRE Essex in the spotlight. We have reported before on his letters (see here and here) to the Saffron Walden Reporter on the growing issue of solar farms. Now he has put Uttlesford District Council’s climate-change strategy to the sword, again in the Saffron […] Read more >
Letter: solar farms and the wrecking or our landscape
Friday 2 July 2021
With the report that proposals for solar farms in Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire have doubled over the past five months, this letter to the Saffron Walden Reporter from Richard Haynes, a member of both CPRE Essex and the Uttlesford Local Plan Community Forum, could scarcely be more pertinent. For more on the subject of solar […] Read more >
Solar farms: CPRE Essex policy statement
Saturday 10 April 2021
Solar farms: a thorny subject for so many. They are trumpeted by some as laudable examples of green, renewable energy provision, while others highlight their undoubted impact on the landscape. As the countryside charity, CPRE Essex has addressed both sides of the debate and put together its own policy statement on the matter. There can […] Read more >
‘Solar farms: it’s the landscape that pays the price’
Monday 8 February 2021
With the number of solar farms proposed for Essex growing seemingly every time we open a newspaper, it is timely to share this letter from Richard Haynes published in the Saffron Walden Reporter. Richard is a member of both CPRE Essex and the Uttlesford Local Plan Community Forum. Dear Sir, I refer to Edward Gildea’s […] Read more >