Anti-solar farm campaigners 'won't roll over' after Secretary of State decision

Campaigners battling to stop a solar farm being built on agricultural land in Shropshire say they “won't roll over” after Secretary of State Angela Rayner declined to force the borough council to reverse a key decision.

Mark Pritchard, Conservative MP for The Wrekin, had asked Labour Housing Secretary Angela Rayner to intervene after Telford & Wrekin Council decided not to request a full environmental assessment for a proposed solar farm at Lilleshall, between Telford and Newport.

Lilleshall's ward Councillor Andrew Eade (Conservative) said: “If the powers that be think for one moment that we are about to roll over and accept this expected but flawed decision they will have to think again.

“We are now carefully dissecting the decision by Telford & Wrekin Council and the Secretary of State and will certainly and rightly continue our fight to have a proper environmental assessment undertaken so that we can all see the implications of the proposed development.”

A spokesperson for Telford & Wrekin Council said issues can be identified during the normal planning process.

The planning application has yet to be lodged on the council's planning portal.

The council spokesperson said: “Following a screening opinion request submitted by the developers, planning officers concluded that a full environmental impact assessment (EIA) was not required for the proposed solar farm.

"As Natural England confirmed, the site is not near any nationally designated ecologically sensitive sites, and the screening process did not flag up any issues that cannot be identified through the normal planning process.

"The Secretary of State was subsequently asked to intervene by issuing an EIA screening direction but has declined to exercise that power, therefore the council's screening opinion remains unchanged.”