A North Tawton field situated behind the Arla Foods Taw Valley Creamery has been proposed as a site for an 11.93 hectare solar farm.

The area of land, south of Taw Valley Creamery, is being proposed for the construction of a 5.4MWac (5-megawatt) solar farm, with consultation via West Devon Borough Council taking place until September 17, 2026.

Vincent Bartlett of SSE Energy Solutions is the applicant for the solar farm planning application which was first put forward on July 19, with the consultation beginning on August 14.

Proposed construction of the solar farm would also include “inverters, transformers, cables, CCTV, access tracks, perimeter fencing and landscape works”.

A decision on the site is still pending, the proposed development consists “of the construction of 9,464 photovoltaic panels, and associated infrastructure, to provide renewable energy to the adjacent Arla factory”, the planning application states.

The application adds that “arable habitat will be lost” to facilitate the solar farm, but will be “replaced with 9.87ha of species-rich meadow grassland”.

The arable field’s hedgerow margin habitat “will be retained in its entirety, additionally hedgerows 2 and 3 are to be entirely retained. Hedgerow 1 will be retained with the exception of a 13m length required for the site access”.

An Ecological Impact Assessment and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Assessment has been carried out on the site for the proposed construction of this solar farm, on land to the south-west of the Arla Foods Taw Valley Creamery.

Planning documents describe the field as “bounded to the north, east and west by high hedgerows with intermittent trees, and to the south by Spire’s Lake watercourse”.

The planning application states that the site is “not situated within the Green Belt”, and a full report on how nature and wildlife will be managed in the proposed plan can be found via Application Number: 2103/26/FUL on West Devon Borough Council’s website.

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Part of the Carbon Reduction Statement via the SSE Energy Solutions planning application reads: “It is important to note that carbon reduction is an inherent aspect of this planning application and while a carbon reduction plan cannot be applied to this particular proposal in the way it could to major planning applications for built development the resulting carbon savings are nonetheless substantial as demonstrated below. This proposal is solely to generate renewable energy (with the resultant carbon savings) and proposes the minimal built infrastructure necessary to achieve this.”