Benefits
We work with local communities to ensure the benefits of our proposals can be realised and can have a lasting positive impact.
Clean, Green, Reliable Domestic Energy
- Provide enough affordable, renewable energy to meet the equivalent needs of over 16,680 homes, maintaining supply and ensuring our energy security.
- Help Cherwell and Oxfordshire to meet their net zero commitment by 2030, in line with local and national targets.
- Save over 1,300,000 tonnes of CO2 in comparison to the equivalent amount of energy generated by fossil fuel energy, the equivalent of planting over 21 million trees.
- Provide battery storage that will allow the site to export clean renewable energy to the grid 24/7, not just during the daylight hours, making the grid more stable.
New Community Facilities
- Enhancing the local path to the north of the site, widening it to 10m, and planting wildflower meadow and native trees/hedges on either side.
- Creation of a new permissive footpath, running north to south, linking the footpath networks in the area on otherwise private land.
- Free lessons from qualified beekeepers on and off-site for local school children/ community groups.
Bringing Biodiversity Benefits
- Deliver a net biodiversity gain of a minimum of 215% (21x the standard)
- Support local wildlife with bird and bat boxes, insect hotels, reptile hibernacula, mammal gates, and beehives, in addition to the creation of large green corridors through the site.
- Preserving almost all existing trees and hedgerows, in addition to planting 2.4km of new trees, hedgerows, and 10 acres of wildflower meadow.
- Preserving the land as greenfield, and allowing the soil to retain minerals and nutrients rather than being subject to ongoing erosion and degradation.
Supporting the local economy
- A community benefit fund to support local projects, such as community gardens, funds to restore wildlife/outdoor areas in the community, or church/village hall repairs.
- The provision of free rooftop solar to all local communal buildings.
- The creation of up to 80 jobs during construction.
- Over £7.6 million of business rates paid to the council during the life of the solar farm.
- Protection of the land as ‘Greenfield’ preventing alternative forms of development.
- Ability to continue to use the farm for pastoral use, supplying the UK food market, and utilising land which is entirely grade 3b and as such not considered ‘excellent’, ‘very good’, or even ‘good’ quality farmland.
Support the Plans
If you support the plans, you can send a comment direct to planning officers using the link below.