FAQs

Solar farms are where photovoltaic (PV) panels, referred to as solar panels, are used to harvest the sun’s power on a utility scale. The PV panels convert natural sunlight into electricity.

Staveley Solar Farm would comprise the construction and operation (including maintenance) of ground mounted PV arrays and supporting infrastructure. The supporting infrastructure would include:

• Substations, comprising electrical equipment such as inverters and transformers.
• Approximately 90% of the electricity generated by the solar farm will be used by Anglian Water, the local water supplier, to decarbonise their operations, and of which 10-15% will be utilised at the Wing Water Treatment Works via a ‘direct wire’. The remaining energy generated would be exported to the National Grid.
• Access tracks for maintenance.
• Perimeter (stock proof ‘deer’) fencing and CCTV.
• Landscape planting to screen views, most likely through infilling and planting of hedgerows and trees.
• Planting within the PV array area and around the perimeter of the site to help enhance the landscape and target Biodiversity Net Gain.

Rutland County Council have set ambitious climate change targets to decarbonise the region and ensure a secure, reliable and clean source of energy for homes and businesses in the County. Staveley Solar Farm would play an important role in providing local energy whilst also contributing to the UK’s wider net zero targets.

Anglian Water has targets to achieve 45 per cent renewable energy generation by 2025 and become a net zero carbon organisation by 2030.

It takes a huge amount of electricity to pump water through the network to treatment works, and to treat water to a quality suitable to supply to customers. Therefore, finding renewable energy alternatives to the supply from National Grid is essential to achieve the carbon reduction goals. Reducing Anglian Water’s reliance on the National Grid also gives more control over operational costs.

The proposed Staveley Solar Farm would be directly connected to Anglian Water’s Wing Water Treatments Works.

The project would have a maximum power output of 40MW of renewable energy – the equivalent of powering 19,600 homes a year and cutting 14,700 tonnes of carbon emissions a year.

The site would take up approximately 80 hectares of a wider 1,565 hectares agricultural landholding.

The site is located on land to the south of Pilton, in Rutland.

The proposed Staveley Solar Farm benefits from:

• Its proximity to a suitable Point of Connection at the 33kV substation at Oakham, and Wing Water Treatment works which will benefit from a direct wire connection
• Its accessibility from the highways network
• Its history of use for quarrying and landfill means the land has already been significantly altered and degraded.
• The quality of land it will use, the majority of which has been deemed to be not ‘Best and Most Versatile Agricultural Land’: 59ha of the 80ha site area is lower quality agricultural land. 51.9 ha has been assessed to comprise Grade 4 ‘Poor Quality Land’ and 7.1ha Grade 3b ‘Moderate Quality’ land.
• No Public Rights of Way intersecting the site or in close proximity to the site
• The site has been as assessed to confirm that the site and surroundings are not subject to any ecological sensitivity.
• The site is not situated in or close to any areas designated for landscape.
• Using the site for solar farm development allows for continued pastoral agriculture under the panels. This dual use supports agricultural diversification and strengthens the resilience of the landowner’s larger 1485-hectare agricultural enterprise.
• The site is situated in Flood Risk 1 (low) flood risk.
• No designated heritage assets have been identified at the site.

Our plans for Staveley Solar Farm are still at an early stage and subject to planning permission by Rutland County Council. Should approval be granted, construction could start early 2025. We anticipate that it would take nine to twelve months to build the project, with the site potentially being fully operational and generating electricity from late 2025/early 2026.

The site is considered a ‘temporary’ development, meaning it would be decommissioned after a set period without any permanent land use change. The timeline for this decommissioning would be determined and published at a later date, but typically run up to forty years.

The site was previously a quarry, used for mining iron ore, run by Staveley, Coal and Iron Co Ltd.

As such it has low environmental and agricultural value, meaning it can only produce a low yield for arable crops which is increasingly uneconomical for the current farm to sustain.

An Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) has confirmed that the majority of the site is not Best and Most Versatile (BMV) agricultural land. Of the 80.3ha site, most of the land (59ha) is grade 3b and 4:

• 51.9ha grade 4
• 7.1ha grade 3b
• 17.7ha grade 3a
• 3.6ha grade 2

Land that is grade 3b or grade 4 is typically classified as ‘lower grade’ agricultural land. By using the former quarry site for solar the existing farm would be able to diversify its operation, supporting continued agricultural output on better quality agricultural land elsewhere on the site.

Our proposals for the solar farm have been designed using a landscape-led approach, taking advantage of natural screening, contours in the land, and existing hedgerows and woodland to ensure it has as minimal a visual impact on the surrounding area. As solar panels are low-profile compared to other forms of infrastructure they can be screened appropriately. Our screening measures will also help mitigate visual impacts through new planting of hedgerows and trees as part of the Landscape and Ecological Management Plan; this is developed as part of the planning process. For further information please see our submitted Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment and accompanying Detailed Landscape Proposal plans.

Total Energies places a strong emphasis on the delivery of landscape and biodiversity enhancements. The frames supporting the solar panels occupy less than 1% of the land within the site, while the rest of the infrastructure typically affects less than 5% of the ground. This design allows sheep to move freely underneath and between the frames, ensuring that approximately 95% of the site remains accessible for vegetation growth. This space can support ongoing agricultural activities, such as sheep grazing, as well as local wildlife throughout the project’s lifespan.

Additionally, the development will achieve a biodiversity net gain of 31.63% in local habitats and 57.71% in surrounding hedgerows, all while maintaining grazing areas on suitable parts of the site.

Other environmental benefits include the provision of 15 bird boxes, 15 bat boxes, 10 hedgehog boxes, 10 insect hotels/boxes and 5 new hibernation areas within the development proposals. These proposed enhancement measures would ensure that the resident animal populations are accommodated, while encouraging further species to move into the site.

Landscape enhancements across the site include:

• Approximately 7.63 hectares of Biodiversity Enhancement Areas (BEA) with species-rich wildflower grass mix and organic wild bird seed mix.
• Species-rich wildflower grass mix along field margins.
• Wildflower meadows under proposed hedgerows and hedgerow enhancements.
• Native scrub planting and native woodland cover.
• The creation of 1,022m of new hedgerows, 95m of new hedgerow infill, and the planting of 156 new trees.

The planning application submission includes various reports assessing the impacts of the development, such as a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment, a Landscape and Ecological Management Plan, a Construction Traffic Management Plan, an Agricultural Land Classification Report, an Ecological Assessment Report, a Biodiversity Enhancement and Management Plan and more.

These assessments ensure that the development complies with planning policy requirements and effectively addresses potential environmental impacts.

We have identified several measures to ensure that members of the local community benefit from our work.

Firstly, we are allocating money through a community benefit fund, which could include investment in local projects, recreational spaces, biodiversity and in addressing social issues such as fuel poverty. The feedback we receive during our ongoing engagement will help determine the focus or scope of the fund.

It should be noted that a Community Benefit Fund is a voluntary commitment by the Applicant that sits outside the formal requirements of the planning process.

TotalEnergies also places a strong emphasis on the delivery of landscape and biodiversity enhancements. The development will deliver an overall biodiversity net gain of 31.63% in local habitats and 57.71% in surrounding hedgerows, while maintaining grazing areas on suitable areas of the site.

For more information, please visit our community benefit fund page and environmental benefits page.

If you would like to comment on the Staveley Solar Farm planning application, please visit Rutland County Council’s website planning portal, where you will be able to sign up to make a comment – Simple Search (rutland.gov.uk)

You can access our submission documents on our application page on Rutland County Council’s website. This includes:

• Planning application forms
• Planning Statement
  This report has been prepared to describe the Proposed Development in relation to the Application Site and setting, and to appraise the Proposed Development against relevant legislative and planning policy considerations, as well as any other relevant material considerations.
• Design and Access Statement
  This Statement demonstrates that the Applicant has fully considered the design and access issues as part of the comprehensive preparation of the scheme prior to submission of the planning application.
• Statement of Community Involvement
  A statutory document which sets out how Bluestone Energy have engaged with the public and affected communities on how we have engaged on the application.
• Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment
  The planning application is supported by a full LVIA prepared by a Chartered Landscape Architect in accordance with best practice documents and guidance, which are listed in full within the LVIA methodology. This includes the Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (3rd edition) (Landscape institute and Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (2013).  The findings of the LVIA have informed the landscape mitigation strategy for the solar farm.
• Landscape and Ecological Management Plan
  This document has been prepared to ensure the delivery and ongoing management of the solar farm landscape proposals, to provide related ecological and landscape and visual benefits. Detailed landscape proposals have been produced, setting out the existing and proposed areas of planting within the Site.
• Construction Traffic Management Plan
  A Transport engineer has visited the site, undertaken traffic survey works, and liaised with the Highways Authority to inform the design of suitable means of access to the site by the vehicles required to access during the construction/decommissioning phase.The CTMP provides the detail of the access to the site, the construction traffic route, breakdown of traffic movements, the need for any temporary off-site mitigation including traffic management, and the process for agreeing a condition survey at a later date if ultimately required.  Swept path assessments are included as part of the CTMP.  Detail of any off-site mitigation and management measures required are provided within this report.
• Construction Traffic Method Statement
  A CTMS has been prepared to address the highways implications of the cable route proposed between the site and the Points of Connecting at Wing Water Treatment Works and the substation at Oakham.
• Agricultural Land Classification Report
  This report assesses the Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) grading of 80.3Ha, of agricultural land approximately 1 mile east of Wing in Rutland.
• Agricultural Considerations Report
  This report has been provided in response to Officer comments in the pre-application consultation (November 2022) and provides information and commentary on the land quality; the viability and implications of removing land of Grade 2 and 3a from the proposals; and the use of the land in the long term, including the last five years.
• Ecological Assessment Report
  A report which provides baseline information and an assessment of potential ecological effects of the Proposed Development.
• Biodiversity Enhancement and Management Plan
  The BEMP sets out habitat protection and enhancement measures as well as details ecological management practices to be adopted with the aim of developing and maintaining wildlife habitats to provide a net gain for local biodiversity.
• Biodiversity Metric Calculations
  In order to assess the measurable biodiversity impacts associated with the Proposed Development, Defra’s Statutory Biodiversity Metric Calculation Tool was utilised in order to provide evidence of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG). The Metric is a biodiversity accounting tool used to quantify biodiversity losses and gains using habitats as a proxy for overall biodiversity. It is recognised as an industry standard and has been developed through full and widespread consultation with stakeholders across all relevant sectors. At the time of writing, BNG is not yet mandatory in England; BNG will become mandatory on the 12th of February.
• Report to Inform a Habitats Regulations Assessment
  This report has been prepared to assist Rutland County Council (RCC) as the Competent Authority in the undertaking of a Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA).
• Great Crested Newt Species Report
  This report has been prepared by Tyler Grange Group Ltd on behalf of Bluestone Energy. It sets out the findings of ecological surveys in relation to great crested newt (GCN) Triturus cristatus undertaken at parcels of land within Rutland for the development of ‘Staveley Solar Farm’.
• Flood Risk Assessment and Surface Water Drainage Strategy
  The site is situated in Zone 1 for flood risk (i.e. having a less than 1 in 1000 annual probability of river or sea flooding (<0.1%) in any year. Despite this low risk a Flood Risk Assessment and Surface Water Drainage Strategy has been prepared due to the area of the proposal exceeding 1ha to ensure that the flood risk is fully understood in relation to site conditions and to demonstrate that the development would not give rise to any increased flood risk elsewhere.
• Heritage Statement
  This Assessment provides information with regards to the significance of the historic environment to fulfil the requirement given in the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework.
• Arboricultural Impact Assessment
  This report summaries the tree survey undertaken relevant to a planning application at the site and provides written advice on how they inform feasibility and design options. The instruction also required an assessment of the potential impact (the Arboricultural Impact Assessment) of the proposed development on the site’s arboricultural resource to be undertaken.
• Solar Photovoltaic Glint and Glare Study
  This report has been prepared to assess the possible effects of glint and glare from a solar photovoltaic (PV) development located on land to the south of Pilton village, Luffenham Lane, Pilton, Rutland. This assessment pertains to the possible impact upon surrounding residential amenity, road safety and aviation activity associated with Shacklewell Lodge Farm Airfield and RAF Wittering.
• Noise Assessment
  This Assessment has been prepared to undertake an operational noise assessment for the proposed Staveley Solar Farm
• Phase I Geo-Environmental Assessment
  This Assessment was prepared to determine potential contamination risks and associated potential environmental liabilities relating to the sites’ proposed use as a solar farm in order to satisfy relevant planning requirements. In addition, anticipated foundation types and any significant geotechnical constraints are considered.
• Application Plans
  These accompanying plans provide detail of the scheme and equipment detailing proposed.

We are expecting Rutland County Council to make a decision on our application in 2024. We will share further information once this is confirmed.

Our plans for Staveley Solar Farm are still at an early stage and subject to planning permission by Rutland County Council. Should approval be granted, construction could start early 2025. We anticipate that it would take nine to twelve months to build the project, with the site potentially being fully operational and generating electricity from late 2025/early 2026.

The site is considered a ‘temporary’ development, meaning it would be decommissioned after 40 years from the date that electricity is first exported to the grid.

Any community benefit proposals can be sent to our project email address, info@staveleysolar.co.uk