Ludlow solar farm firm appeals decision
An appeal has been launched by developers who want to build a large solar farm in the south Shropshire countryside.
A date has been set for a hearing over plans for a 33-acre, 5MW solar farm on the Henley Hall estate on the outskirts of Ludlow.
The plans were thrown out by Shropshire Council's south planning committee in August. But developer Alexander Arcache, of Kronos Solar, maintains the panels would not have a tourism-harming impact on views from the surrounding countryside.
The company say they worked with council officers on the location of panels and landscaping to make sure the plans were something officers could recommend – but the proposal was still refused by councillors.
Andy Boddington, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow North and one of those on the committee, said a round-table hearing with a national planning inspector was now scheduled to take place on April 5 at the Gateway in Shrewsbury.
The hearing will start at 10am with the public invited to speak.
Councillor Boddington said: "The decision of the south planning committee to reject this development will be defended by committee members, not by officers, because the committee threw out the plans against officers' advice.
"I proposed that the committee reject the scheme and I have already offered my time to help defend the decision at the inquiry."
He said the reasons they voted against the solar farm were that it would be a "large scale industrial development" which did not "protect and enhance" the natural and historic environment of the countryside around it.
Councillors felt the development would affect leisure and tourism in the area, he said.
He said members of the public wanting to speak for or against the plans could do so by letting the planning inspector know.
