Please tell us what you think
Kingsway Solar Farm Ltd is seeking planning permission to build in West Wratting a solar farm and electrical battery storage facility together with the infrastructure required to connect it to the National Grid. The developers say its generation capacity of up to 500 MW could power over 250,000 homes and potentially supply the energy for 91% of Cambridgeshire households. To do that it needs to be one of the largest solar farms in the UK, covering an area of 780 hectares. That’s an area equivalent to 3.5 miles long by 1 mile wide. If successful, the North West half of West Wratting that’s currently good quality agricultural farmland would be replaced by solar panels and 100-200 container lorry-sized lithium battery units. Although land for food production would be reduced, the developers say it amounts to only 0.1% of the agricultural land in the East of England.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED MAP IS NOW OUT OF DATE.
A new plan increases the area of the solar farm from 780 hectares to 1400 hectares and now almost surrounds the village. The new map looks like this …
The project is so big that it is not decided by the usual planning process but instead by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, who recently approved a similar sized project (“Sunnica”) near Newmarket. The developer plans to present their proposal to them in Autumn 2025, and may be able to start building about a year later, taking a further year to complete. The life of the solar farm is expected to be 40 years, after which it could be returned to agricultural use.
To build the site as currently proposed, land needs to be rented from four different landowners, which it is believed could generate for them a potential income that’s 10x higher per acre than from farming. West Wratting Parish Council does not know if any of the landowners in our parish have made agreements with Kingsway Solar.
The developer has indicated they may provide several benefits to local residents, including funding to parish councils, rooftop solar schemes, electric vehicle charging points, providing permissive paths around the site, using local tradesmen during construction and for maintenance, and increased biodiversity.
West Wratting Parish Council would like to know what you think about the proposed solar farm project. This information will inform any subsequent action we might take as the planning process unfolds.
If you need more information before forming an opinion, please see
- https://westwratting.org.uk/kingsway-solar-farm/ and
- Kingsway Solar Community Action, https://facebook.com/groups/1367167287280888/
We’d like to hear from everyone in your household, including teenagers. You can contact us in several ways:
- Fill-in this online survey https://forms.gle/Gr3PgoK49E7Cqgs16
- Complete the paper form on the questionnaire that will be delivered to your house (with Challenge), then post at the village hall.
- You can also send email to westwrattingparishcouncil@gmail.com