Just weeks after what would have been Cornwall’s largest solar farm was rejected in the Hendra Valley following pressure from a local campaign group, more residents in mid-Cornwall are fighting plans for yet another huge solar park.
The Stop Trelion Solar Farm group has formed to protest against proposals by energy company EDF to build a solar park on 200 acres of farming fields between St Stephen and Scarcewater, near St Austell. If approved, it would become the biggest in the Duchy.
The residents argue that this particular part of Cornwall is being “dumped on again”. There are eight other solar farms in a four square mile area near St Stephen due to the area’s proximity to the National Grid connection – at Burthy Farm and its extension, Trefullock, Hewas Farm, Carnemough, Trethosa Farm, Kernick Mica Dam and Carloggas Farm. Trelion would be the ninth if Cornwall Council planners pass it.
The group carried out a mapping exercise which showed seven per cent of land in their area will be covered by solar panels; the average in Cornwall is 0.34 per cent. That’s 20 times the density in that patch of mid-Cornwall compared to the rest of the Duchy.
Campaigner Rose Barnecut said: “It can’t all be placed on what is actually one of the most deprived parts of Cornwall. The really shocking thing is the proposed site will by EDF’s own assessment be visible from a staggering 80 per cent of St Stephen parish. What people will see as they look across the landscape is behind them the clay waste and in front of them a sea of black glass.”
The group supports the development of renewable energy, both wind and solar. However, they believe there are a large number of reasons the Trelion solar farm – which would be operational for 40 years – should be refused based on planning policy, including the loss of the best Grade 3a agricultural land.
St Stephen residents are urging Cornwall Council to refuse the Trelion solar park. The countryside around the area affords wonderful views across to the china clay pits and neighbouring hamlets and villages, but locals are concerned that this view will be spoiled forever as the solar farm, if approved, will take up a whopping 200 acres on the ridge of a hill overlooking the area.
It’s only when residents point out where it will be located, ironically between the sites of two wind turbines, that you can fathom the full extent of the giant solar farm.
They are quick to point out that they are not Nimbys. Farmer Rose said: “You can’t give us that tag – we have eight solar parks in this area and no objections were made to those, but this huge new application on fertile farmland will be four times the size of any of the other individual sites and twice the size of St Stephen village.
“There’s a solar park goldrush going on here and this clay country village community is just being asked to take too much.”
Former CEO of Cornwall Community Foundation and environmental activist Oliver Baines – who installed a wind farm on his own land in the area – said: “I’ve been arguing for renewables for decades but I never thought we’d get to the point where we’re saying renewables are so important we’re not going to have food on our tables, we’ll just have energy. It’s a madness.”
A campaign video by those fighting the Trelion solar park plan
The campaign group has eight major areas of concern and complaint:
- Economic impact – If the solar farm is approved it will lead to the loss of a tenanted family farm. The tenants have been there for four generations, working and trading locally. “Their livelihoods, and their contribution to the local economy and community, will be entirely lost,” say the Stop Trelion Solar Farm campaigners.
- Food and agriculture – They say 80 per cent of the farmed land is Grade 3a, the ‘best and most versatile’ land, which is is currently farmed for potatoes, brassicas and other vegetables. They say this is at a time when global insecurity is increasing, food supply chains are under pressure and farmers are being urged to increase production.
- Cumulative impact – “This is in an area already degraded by clay mining. Local communities have long had to accept landscape damage because of the needs of the clay industry. Now they are being asked to accept an unfair distribution of the development of solar parks,” says the group.
- Industrialisation of the countryside – Locals stress that from multiple viewpoints including from St Stephen, Foxhole, Trethosa and the Trenowth Valley area of great landscape value, you will see a glass-covered landscape. Visually, the Trelion site would join the two existing farms across the road.
- Water quality – There are at least 27 properties below the proposed solar farm with private water supplies. They believe contamination of these supplies is a real risk which has not been considered in the application.
- Flooding – They say run-off from 200 acres of panels will go down to the Fal and Trenowth Valley, which already suffers regular flooding problems.
- Historic sites – The application fails to recognise the impact on a number of historical sites, including some that are Iron Age, claim the campaigners.
- Wildlife – The group highlights that according to EDF’s own ecological assessment, Penhale Farm is a habitat for eight species of birds on the Red List and 11 on the Amber List, five mammal species which are UK Biodiversity Plan Priority Species, and 15 out of 18 native bat species all protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. They fear their homes will be covered by 200 acres of glass and wildlife corridors will be broken.
The group has been encouraged by the recent refusal of an almost identical site in Canworthy Water, near Launceston, and, more recently, the 210-acre Fairpark solar farm in the Hendra Valley near Mitchell.
However, they are concerned that energy secretary Ed Miliband’s promise of giving speedy consent for new energy infrastructure may go against them.
St Stephen resident Andrew Stott said: “The Government – Ed Miliband, particularly – has allowed solar farms upcountry on appeal and the new National Planning Policy Framework is tilted more towards allowing solar. So there’s a risk of Cornwall councillors losing confidence to arbitrate over solar farm developments.”
The planning application is currently pending. St Stephen In Brannel, St Enoder and Ladock parish councils have all united in their objections to the plan.
There are over 130 public comments on the council’s planning portal, with the majority opposing the proposal. Though there are those in support, citing the council’s own climate emergency declaration in 2019, with comments such as “I would hope that Cornwall Council planning committee has the courage to approve it”.
A planning statement says: “EDF Renewables is seeking to combat climate change through the construction and operation of renewable energies through the development of wind power, solar power, battery storage technology and hydrogen. The applicant’s aim is to ‘ensure all our customers enjoy access to a diverse, reliable and affordable low-carbon energy mix for decades to come’.
“A range of mitigation measures have been embedded in the design of the proposed development, with the aim of reducing potential adverse landscape and visual effects.
“These measures include both the layout of the site, e.g. respecting and protecting the field pattern, avoiding trees and hedgerow loss wherever possible and including separation from the closest residential properties, together with a landscape strategy. This includes reinforcing the pattern of hedgerows, the introduction of tree and woodland planting in carefully considered locations and areas of native wildflower grassland planting.”