To: Simon Chandler wwparishcouncil6@gmail.com,
Environment environment@south-staffs-water.co.uk
Date: Feb 2, 2026, 4:40 PM
We made no formal response to the statutory consultation on Kingsway Solar. As we are not statutory consultees, the Environment Agency would be the responsible organisation to make comments on groundwater pollution risk.
However, we were contacted by Quod, the planning consultants for the scheme on behalf of the project, to have a meeting and discuss any views and concerns that we might have, from the overall water supply perspective. We did raise concerns with the lack of information on groundwater risk in the EIA, and discuss risks to water supply assets that should be considered.
Included in our concerns were construction activity, operation of the facility, and particularly the permanent BESS locations within SPZ1. We were informed that the BESS would not be sited in the SPZ1. We also raised concerns with the risk of fire water, and have been assured that designs would include suitable bunding for containment to avoid any infiltration to ground. The documents at draft stage do not show any detailed designs and as such we would want to review any final designs and comment on these in future consultation. There are also no construction method statements to allow us to review pollution risks prior to the scheme being operational.
We will continue to engage where we can as the planning progresses
I have not logged this request as an EIR, as no response to the consultation was provided. If you wish to make a formal EIR request, please reply accordingly
That was in response to the following email from me on 30 January 2026
From: Simon Chandler <wwparishcouncil6@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2026 2:22 PM
To: Environment <environment@south-staffs-water.co.uk>
Subject: [EXTERNAL]Response to Kingsway Solar Farm statutory consultation
Dear Sir,
I am writing on behalf of an alliance of councils and community action groups that will be affected by the proposed development of a grid-scale solar farm and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in South Cambridgeshire by Kingsway Solar Ltd. There was a statutory consultation period for this project from 17 September to 29 October 2025. The Environment Agency recommended to the developer that Cambridge Water should be contacted by the developer for your comments. That was motivated, I believe, by the proposed location for the BESS being in a Source Protected Zone 2 area (SPZ2) and only a few hundred meters from an SPZ1. As pointed out by many consultees, in the event of a BESS fire there is considerable risk of severe contamination to the groundwater in the underlying aquifer.
Could you please tell me if Cambridge Water did send a response to the Kingsway Solar Farm statutory consultation, and if so could you please send me a copy of your response. I hope you can help by sending me an email – I’m not sure if my request would be considered an “EIR”.
Regards.
Dr Simon Chandler
West Wratting Parish Council and KSCA committee