Large battery storage & solar farm planning application near Minety sub-station
As many local residents may by now be aware, a planning application was made to Wiltshire County Council (WCC) for the installation and operation of a large battery storage and solar farm development across 271 acres of agricultural land near the Minety sub-station (WCC planning reference 20/03528/FUL).

Is this a good thing ?
The parish councils of Hankerton, Minety and Oaksey have objected to the proposal, as have many others in the community. See Local Reaction sidebar.

Large battery storage and solar farm developments in Wiltshire
Shouldn’t Wiltshire be doing its bit for our country in support of tackling climate change and meeting its renewable energy targets?

According to government data, as at June 2020 Wiltshire already has the highest aggregate number (19) of existing and proposed large battery storage site and solar farm developments relative to all other counties in the UK.  The same data shows that Wiltshire has the highest number (11) of such battery storage developments, nationally, and the second highest number of such solar farm developments (8), after Cambridgeshire (9).

Source references and further information are available via the links below.

Local petition
A local action group, Minety Solar Farm Action Group, has been conducting a petition of local residents to seek their backing of the majority view of the parish councils to oppose the solar farm proposal.

So far, more than 130 residents across Hankerton/Cloatley, Minety and Oaksey have added their support to the petition opposing the proposal.

What next?
WCC’s ‘target decision date’ is 1 September 2020.  It is possible that this date is further extended if the matter is referred to the WCC Planning Committee.

WCC has informally indicated that it will consider representations from the public through its planning portal (http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-applications-search) prior to the decision date, notwithstanding the consultation period has ended, for those who want to respond to directly.

For those who wish to support the local petition, details are available in the ‘information update’ link below.

Large battery storage & solar farm application at Minety sub-station – information update

Large battery storage & solar farm developments by county (as at June 2020)

Large Battery Storage & Solar Developments Key Fact Sheet 30.07.2020