Draycott Solar Farm - Public Exhibition

Pre-Planning Presentation 07/03/21

A pre-planning presentation was held during an ordinary Parish Council meeting in the Leigh Village Hall from 7pm. Here a preliminary layout was shown of the original site as well as an explanation of the surveys we had already carried out, as well as those we planned to in the future. There was also an opportunity for the parishioners to ask questions of which the following are stated below:

  • Can the proposal be placed on roofs or brownfield sites? In September 2020, a whitepaper by Atkins (SNC-Lavalin Group member) states that the UK is at 43% of the required energy technology build rate in order to achieve the UK Net Zero 2050 target. The report states that 80GW of solar alone need to be built in the next 30 years. Our rule of thumb is that per every flat hectare, one megawatt of power is possible. We simply cannot rely on having 80.000 hectares of only industrial roofs or contaminated land.
  • Could a local company be appointed to be the ICP? We aim to use as many local companies as possible to construct the solar farm, fence it off, plant the required vegetation screening that helps mitigating visual impact effects, and take care of the maintenance of the site. We encourage any local businesses who want to be part of these processes and fulfil the skill set to get in touch through our website in order to have the best community integrated approach.
  • Where will the panels come from? As the purchase of panels takes place at a later stage, it is not possible to confirm, currently, the exact brand of solar modules which will be used (e.g. REC or Yingli or Canadian solar).
  • What are the access routes during construction? This information will be available in the detailed Transport and Construction Management Plan, which is submitted within the application documents.

A drop-in consultation was held at Fulford Village Hall on 13/09/26 from 5-7pm. This was to inform the local community about the layout changes that had been made, following results from further surveys as well as requests from the last Parish Council Consultation.

The following images were presented at the public drop-in consultation.