News: Whitestone - the £600m planned investment in Rotherham that would create just 39 long term jobs
Planning documents for one of the largest solar farms in the country have been published - all 159 of them.
Rothbiz reported last year on early stage plans being updated for Whitestone Solar Farm - a generating station with an estimated capacity of up to 750MW connecting to the National Grid Brinsworth Substation in Rotherham.
Whitestone has been given a cost estimate of between £500m and £600m. It is being promoted by Green Nation but operates under Net Zero One Ltd.
Initial consultation documents from Green Nation showed that vast areas of agricultural land in Rotherham and Doncaster, some safeguarded for the now-cancelled HS2 route, could make up the solar farm.
The northern site straddles the Rotherham and Doncaster border east of Hooton Roberts and north of Ravenfield.
Farmland adjacent to the M18 south of Bramley and Wickersley has also been identified to host thousands of solar panels, as has vast areas of fields either side of the M1 south of its junction with the M18. This includes sites near Ulley, Aston and Brampton, out towards North and South Anston, and the other way to land between Treeton and Whiston.
In the south of the borough, sites that are included in the proposed solar farm development are close to Kiveton Park, Harthill and Woodall.
Whitestone is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), which means that it is applying for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to authorise its construction, operation and decommissioning. The final decision on a DCO application will be made at the national level by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.
A three month pre-examination stage has now begun looking at the issues which will need to be discussed at the examination stage. This next stage is where the applicant, anyone who is registered to have their say, official bodies and people whose land is directly affected can comment on the proposed development or answer any of the questions at each deadline.
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Documents include numerous environmental statements on things like Landscape and Visual Impact (LVIA), contaminated land and transport, plus outline strategies for landscape and ecology management, surface water drainage and Public Right of Way (PROW) management.
However, much of the details are not yet known. Developers want to "maintain flexibility in the design" and instead specify parameter ranges, including details of the maximum, and minimum, size (footprint, width, and height, technology,) and locations of the different elements of the proposed development.
Plans also show that the developers are enacting a compulsory acquisition of land.
Applicants also say that they are proposing a large scheme due to its bulk generation potential and connection to the national grid that means that benefits are felt more widely. It discounts brownfield and rooftop sites due to thier unsuitability and related "ownership, occupation, and upkeep" issues.
On employment, planning documents say that: "During construction, it is anticipated that there would be 1,616 FTE jobs created as a result of direct, indirect and induced employment opportunities and that 538 of these would be from the local Study Area. Once operational, impacts on local labour market arising from operational and maintenance jobs would be more limited but still present, with 39 FTE direct, indirect and induced jobs created."
Promoters of the scheme, which they want to operate for 60 years, say that the proposed development is located on "grey belt land because the site does not strongly contribute to Green Belt purposes" but go on to say that "even if this position is not accepted, there are Very Special Circumstances that clearly outweigh any harm identified in terms of the five Green Belt purposes."
The applicants conclude: "The significant need for low carbon electricity generation infrastructure to meet the government’s decarbonisation objectives, and wider environmental benefits of the proposal, including the significant increase in BNG and creation of new permissive paths locally, would outweigh any harm identified to the Green Belt."
Rotherham Council does not agree that the site is "grey belt" stating that "this part of the Borough performs an important strategic and local function as open countryside in a relatively densely populated area, helping to maintain separation between settlements, prevent encroachment into the countryside and preserve a sense of openness."
Rotherham Council and the local MPs have raised issues with the scheme's consultation.
Rothbiz has detailed the issues raised by Rotherham Council with the Whitestone proposals.
Whitestone website
Images: Pexels / Giant Asparagus
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Rothbiz reported last year on early stage plans being updated for Whitestone Solar Farm - a generating station with an estimated capacity of up to 750MW connecting to the National Grid Brinsworth Substation in Rotherham.
Whitestone has been given a cost estimate of between £500m and £600m. It is being promoted by Green Nation but operates under Net Zero One Ltd.
Initial consultation documents from Green Nation showed that vast areas of agricultural land in Rotherham and Doncaster, some safeguarded for the now-cancelled HS2 route, could make up the solar farm.
The northern site straddles the Rotherham and Doncaster border east of Hooton Roberts and north of Ravenfield.
Farmland adjacent to the M18 south of Bramley and Wickersley has also been identified to host thousands of solar panels, as has vast areas of fields either side of the M1 south of its junction with the M18. This includes sites near Ulley, Aston and Brampton, out towards North and South Anston, and the other way to land between Treeton and Whiston.
In the south of the borough, sites that are included in the proposed solar farm development are close to Kiveton Park, Harthill and Woodall.
Whitestone is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), which means that it is applying for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to authorise its construction, operation and decommissioning. The final decision on a DCO application will be made at the national level by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.
A three month pre-examination stage has now begun looking at the issues which will need to be discussed at the examination stage. This next stage is where the applicant, anyone who is registered to have their say, official bodies and people whose land is directly affected can comment on the proposed development or answer any of the questions at each deadline.
Advertisement
Documents include numerous environmental statements on things like Landscape and Visual Impact (LVIA), contaminated land and transport, plus outline strategies for landscape and ecology management, surface water drainage and Public Right of Way (PROW) management.
However, much of the details are not yet known. Developers want to "maintain flexibility in the design" and instead specify parameter ranges, including details of the maximum, and minimum, size (footprint, width, and height, technology,) and locations of the different elements of the proposed development.
Plans also show that the developers are enacting a compulsory acquisition of land.
Applicants also say that they are proposing a large scheme due to its bulk generation potential and connection to the national grid that means that benefits are felt more widely. It discounts brownfield and rooftop sites due to thier unsuitability and related "ownership, occupation, and upkeep" issues.
On employment, planning documents say that: "During construction, it is anticipated that there would be 1,616 FTE jobs created as a result of direct, indirect and induced employment opportunities and that 538 of these would be from the local Study Area. Once operational, impacts on local labour market arising from operational and maintenance jobs would be more limited but still present, with 39 FTE direct, indirect and induced jobs created."
Promoters of the scheme, which they want to operate for 60 years, say that the proposed development is located on "grey belt land because the site does not strongly contribute to Green Belt purposes" but go on to say that "even if this position is not accepted, there are Very Special Circumstances that clearly outweigh any harm identified in terms of the five Green Belt purposes."
The applicants conclude: "The significant need for low carbon electricity generation infrastructure to meet the government’s decarbonisation objectives, and wider environmental benefits of the proposal, including the significant increase in BNG and creation of new permissive paths locally, would outweigh any harm identified to the Green Belt."
Rotherham Council does not agree that the site is "grey belt" stating that "this part of the Borough performs an important strategic and local function as open countryside in a relatively densely populated area, helping to maintain separation between settlements, prevent encroachment into the countryside and preserve a sense of openness."
Rotherham Council and the local MPs have raised issues with the scheme's consultation.
Rothbiz has detailed the issues raised by Rotherham Council with the Whitestone proposals.
Whitestone website
Images: Pexels / Giant Asparagus
