By Rashleigh MacFarlane
More than a year after Cornwall councillors voted overwhelmingly to demand a study into the loss of food-producing agricultural land to solar farms, County Hall officials have finally commissioned a firm of consultants to write a report.
The contract has gone to “sustainability experts” 3ADAPT, based in Bath. For £57,780 the firm will “study four interlinked work packages, each designed to address different aspects of land use and its interactions with solar farms. Together, these work packages will generate insights into the impacts, opportunities, and future planning considerations for Cornwall Council, balancing the needs of food production, renewable energy generation, and environmental sustainability.”
The study is expected to take three months. Meanwhile several more planning applications for large solar farms are either awaiting determination by Cornwall Council, or by a government inspector at appeal.
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Hopefully (a vain hope I fear) the consultants will have the nous to consider the obvious alternative of instead of building a 10,000 panel solar park with giant battery storage simply equipping 1000 existing houses with 10 panels and a 8kW battery each. No wasted land or visual impact and distributed benefit direct to residents.