Solar farms in Shropshire: What's next?

They divide opinion like no other application which goes before the committees in Telford and the rest of Shropshire.

Bid after bid has gone in to Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council, with the green and rolling hills of the county seen as prime locations for large-scale solar farms.

People in favour – and the developers behind such schemes – are quick to shout about the benefits.

Solar power supplied 15 per cent of the UK's electricity during the recent heatwave and is lauded as a clean, green alternative to rapidly dwindling fossil fuels.

Government subsidies have made it a boom business – there are more than 700,000 now all over the country.

Solar farms also benefit the people who live by them as well, developers are keen to stress.

Vogt Solar has just submitted an application to Telford & Wrekin Council to build on 19 acres at Cheshire Coppice Farm in Bratton.

Sarah Bower, for Vogt Solar, said it would be in place for 25 years and house thousands of panels to meet the electricity requirements of on average about 1,500 UK homes per year.

But there will be other benefits too.

"The farm would save about 2,150 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, or more than 50,000 over the 25-year life of the development," she said.

Community benefits too.

She said: "The business rates generated by the solar farm will go directly to the local authority.

"A community benefit fund would be set up to support local renewable energy, energy efficiency or other projects."

As with other solar developments, residents living nearby will have the option of buying in or investing into the scheme.

With returns of up to six per cent a year, far outstripping that offered by savings accounts or UK Government bonds, it is becoming increasingly popular as an investment.

Paul Barwell, chief executive of the Solar Trade Association, recently claimed eight out of 10 people backed the concept of solar energy.

Few would argue with that – but the location of large-scale solar developments in the county has been the subject of fierce debate and argument, particularly in the south.

Four applications have been thrown out, two of those twice, in the past 12 months as campaign groups have formed to fight them being built on green land and within Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

As Peter van Duijvenvoorde, chairman of the Save South Shropshire Hills campaign group says: "We are horrified at the continuing threats to our countryside.

"It is time for our politicians to more strongly encourage the deployment of solar panels on brownfield sites and commercial buildings and to actively discourage proposals for solar factories on productive greenfield sites."

But, he said, the group was not anti-solar energy and had no problem with recent proposals such as plans to place 440 solar panels on the roofs of poultry shed roofs at Fishmore Farm, nor 19,200 panels at a former quarry site at Bromfield, both on the outskirts of Ludlow and both designed to directly supply businesses at the site with the energy they generate.

The Bromfield one is a rare exception, approved without a single objection, something that was heralded as "unprecedented".

But the reasons for it were simple, according to Ludlow councillor Andy Boddington. The developers listened.

"When this scheme was first proposed in May 2014, I asked a number of questions," he said.

"The promoter of the scheme listened carefully, made modifications and produced a sensible planning application that I could fully back.

"The scheme is barely visible from the surrounding landscape, just from the railway line.

"Initial plans to send all the power to the grid were changed to supply 25 per cent to the gravel works and Ludlow Food Centre.

"That's a huge bonus because locally produced power used locally is far more efficient than pumping electricity long distances through the grid.

"This scheme has been an exemplar from start to finish. Most of the site has previously been quarried for gravel. The soil quality is poor. There is a good biodiversity plan. Community engagement has been excellent.

"The Bromfield solar farm was approved without a single protest or objection. I can't recall a case across England where this has occurred before."

There is at least one notable working success story – in Telford, where the local authority built its own as a novel way of raising cash to prop up frontline services under increasing pressure from Government cuts.

It's only been switched on for six months – but it has already produced enough electricity to power nearly 500 homes for a year. The 15,000-panel solar farm at Wheat Leasows is on course to generate a £150,000 profit during its first 12 months.

Telford & Wrekin Council decided to build the solar farm as a way of generating income, with the money set aside for adult social care.

Councillor Shaun Davies, the authority's cabinet member for business, neighbourhood and customer services, said: "So far it is on course to bring in about half a million pounds of income a year which, once you take out the costs of the solar farm, means we will get about £150,000 a year profit, which was our target.

"That is being used to invest in adult social care, so about 10,000 care hours a year is what the solar farm pays for. We are very pleased with how it is going so far. We are only the second council in the country to have a solar farm and it is telling that there are so many other councils and organisations across the country coming to see how it is done.

"Telford has really led the way in this and it is not just about finances, it is about being green and looking after our environment and having a sustainable energy supply which is really important to us as well," he added.