One of Britain’s largest solar farms may have to be dismantled after a judge quashed its planning permission for failing to consult with locals.
The 54-acre Norrington Solar Farm, near Broughton Gifford in Wiltshire, whose ultimate owner is SunEdison, one of the world’s largest solar-energy investment funds, was built close to Gifford Hall, a Grade II listed building. Daniel Gerber, owner of Gifford Hall, took a judicial review and last week a senior judge quashed Wiltshire council’s original planning permission. Gerber told the court he had not known about the solar farm until construction began. The farm cost £10m to build and started generating last June.
Wiltshire council said: “We are disappointed with the ruling, and will be considering a possible appeal. We carried out extensive publicity concerning this application at the time, including site notices, a press notice and notifying neighbours we considered would be affected.”