Planning consent has been granted for a solar farm adjacent to Rushden Lakes.
The planning decision was made by the government’s Planning Inspectorate (the PI), which is based in Bristol.
Reform-controlled North Northamptonshire Council should have determined the planning application. They failed to do so in time, so following an appeal, the PI took over.
The solar farm is nearly 50 acres in area. It is to the east of Ditchford Lane, and north of Rushden Lakes.
The PI concluded that the landscape, proximity of amenity, etc, were not relevant. The only issue that they considered was whether the scheme would affect protected birds.
The government puts a very high priority on NetZero and “green” projects. (E.g. the Defence Secretary resigned because the government refused to transfer funding from the Energy sector to Defence).
The outcome of the appeal to the PI was therefore probably inevitable.