Councillors considering backing more wind and solar power farms across district

Authorities are reviewing the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan for the coming years to factor in necessary responses to climate change through greener forms of energy.

the recommendations from consultants and officers before them are in stark contrast to county council policy which opposes the further ‘industrialisation’ of the rural landscape through new onshore wind farms, in favour of offshore sites such as Triton Knoll.

The Central Lincolnshire plan maps out the vision for future development of housing, business and infrastructure across North Kesteven, West Lindsey and the City of Lincoln.

The Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee meets today (Monday) to consider options to help the councils and their districts to become carbon net zero for emissions.

Councillors are being urged to set in motion policies that broadly map out potential areas where they would look favourably if proposed for commercial scale solar and wind farms. Any proposals outside these criteria would be resisted.

The three local authorities will have to take the recommendations back to their members and a final decision is expected to be taken by committee in June, leading to public consultation this summer.

NKDC has already declared a Climate Emergency and in September the council approved the Climate Emergency Strategy and Action Plan to set out the action the authority will take to achieve net zero emissions by 2030 and to support partners, residents and local businesses to achieve carbon neutrality by the same date.

Coun Richard Wright Leader of NKDC said: “As a council that has taken a clear position in pursuit of climate change responses and set out an ambitious action plan to progress our Climate Change Strategy, we are committed to pursuing a roadmap to net-zero emissions for both the district council and the district of North Kesteven.

In the committee report consultants recommend a blend of wind and solar based energy generation in Central Lincolnshire, combined with offshore wind turbines. They predicted 70 per cent of energy needed by the three districts should be generated within this area, the rest coming from offshore. A lower scale option would be for 30 per cent energy to be generated within Central Lincolnshire.

This reduced option would equate to 75 2MW turbines, taking up 200-300 acres of land (approximately 150 football pitches). Much of the land can still be used for other farming uses, says the report. Each turbine would measure up to 150m to blade tip. If larger 3MW capacity turbines were used the number of turbines would drop to 50.

It would include pre-existing planned wind farms such as the 20 turbines that were approved after an enquiry for Heckington Fen, a scheme still opposed by some residents in the Heckington area and held up due to MoD low fly zone issues.

The consultants say that “public attitudes to onshore wind is changing, with, nationally, 73 per cent of people now supporting, in principle, onshore wind, and only seven per cent against which in turn is likely to lead to a softening of at least some views on potential harm on the landscape of such onshore turbines”.

A number of factors would rule out sites including any within 2km of all named settlements, if in designated areas of outstanding natural beauty or great landscape value, all nature conservation areas, Conservation Areas, Historic Parks and Gardens and Scheduled Monuments.

Another key factor for this area would be air safety and requirement of the Ministry of Defence. They have been trying to get clear information for exclusion zones around the many airfields in the district, including Cranwell, Waddington, as well as Digby. The MoD has previously objected to onshore windfarms unless radar mitigation systems can be devised that would overcome the disruption that wind turbine blades cause, especially as the area is often used as a low fly zone.

If they cannot get such information on exclusion zones before the summer consultation that any wind farm applicant will have to demonstrate that there would be no major negative impact on the operation of airfields or wider MoD infrastructure. They said this is not ideal as the MoD would effectively have a ‘veto’ over any plans.

They admit that by applying this ‘sieving’ technique, only a limited number of broad areas could be identified for wind farm schemes, but it would still be enough to accommodate the minimum amount of land needed which could be identified by the summer.

Officers felt there would be less problems agreeing land for solar power production.

They recommended solar power farms would take up approximately 1,000 acres of land.

The two forms of power generation combined would equates to around 0.25 per cent of land in the Central Lincolnshire area.

They also recommend a smaller scale single turbine to serve an individual homeowner, business or local community should be deemed appropriate in principle across Central Lincolnshire, but only in relatively rural locations, and only turbines up to 40m high.

There are a number of other recommendations by the consultants including developer contributions to ‘offset’ any remaining emissions from new builds and wider infrastructure improvements such as energy storage.

Coun Wright commented: “As a partner of the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan that sets out the area’s strategic planning framework we are, as a council, keen to ensure that we develop a Local Plan compatible with a net zero objective. In pursuit of this, we will need to promote transition towards renewable energy.

“Together with our Central Lincolnshire partners, we have commissioned work to explore the range of policies that will be required in the Local Plan as far as climate change is concerned. We will be guided by the evidence base that emerges from that work – and from subsequent consultation input – to ensure that the right mix of energy generation solutions is included for Central Lincolnshire.

“A review of the Local Plan is due for consultation from the summer, including a review of energy policy and measures to promote transition to renewable energy sources, adoption and generation. It will also include proactive policies to ensure standards of housing design are proposed which also focus on achieving our net zero ambitions.

“Our recent consultation with communities and stakeholders at North Kesteven confirmed that 77 per cent of respondents believe climate change is a key issue to address, and 81 per cent believe the council has the right focus through its ‘Our Environment’ priority and ambition.”

In 2019, Lincolnshire County Council committed to reach carbon net zero by 2050 and has recently published a strategy to achieve its target, called the Green Masterplan.

However, Coun Martin Hill, Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, said: “Finding solutions for green energy is important, but we must do it in a way which protects our natural and historic environment.

“Our agricultural land allows Lincolnshire to be one of the largest contributors to the fresh produce supply in the UK, it is a significant draw for tourists coming to the region to see our big open skies, visit RAF heritage, and enjoy our historic towns, cities and areas of outstanding natural beauty – it must be protected.

“For us offshore is better – the amount of electricity generated increases exponentially with the size of the turbine blades – so it’s much easier to build larger turbines offshore where there is a more consistent wind speed.”