Botley West Solar Farm

Summary

A developer is proposing a large new solar farm, part of which will be within the Vale of White Horse district.

The developer proposing the Botley West Solar Farm believe it is large enough to be considered a ‘Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project’, which means it will be determined by a government appointed Planning Inspector.

In detail

Developers are proposing to establish a large solar farm to the west of Oxford within the districts of West Oxfordshire, Cherwell and Vale of White Horse.

Botley West Solar Farm map

The scale of the proposal means it will not be considered by the district councils through the normal planning application process, but instead is considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP).

NSIPs are large scale projects falling into five general categories (energy; transport; water; wastewater and waste) which are considered by the Government to be so big and nationally important that permission to build them needs to be given at a national level, by the Government, rather than by the local authorities.

Instead of applying to the local authority for planning permission, the developer must apply to the Planning Inspectorate for a different permission called a Development Consent Order (DCO).

The developer is responsible for setting the timetable and consultation process for this project.

The district council does not make the final decision on the proposal but will be closely involved in the decision making and examination process.

Because of the scale of NSIPs, the process has many stages and can seem complicated.

The full process is explained here on the government’s website.

The planning inspectorate has a useful video which describes the different stages of the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project planning process.

Current status

The Examination of the proposed development concluded on 13 November. The next step is for the Examining Authority to write its recommendation report. This must be completed and sent to the relevant Secretary of State within 3 months of the end of examination stage.

More information can be found on the planning inspectorate’s website.

To date, officers and councillors have engaged with the developer team to discuss technical matters to be assessed and have formally responded to:

We will have a number of responsibilities throughout the next stages of the decision-making process, including the preparation of a Local Impact report. This will consider the local impacts of the solar farm on the local environment.