No EIA Required for the Starcross Solar Farm

Since our last report on varying opinions concerning the potential environmental impact of the proposed solar PV park at Cofford Farm near Starcross some additional correspondence about the matter has been received by Teignbridge District Council.

Natural England expanded on their original response, saying (amongst a number of other things) that:

This is a very large area to be covered with ‘glass’. Even though PV is designed to absorb sunlight there can be a degree of glint/glare which will change the habitats and character of the area completely. We view EIA as an opportunity to understand the environmental impacts of the proposal and consider ways of mitigating or reducing them. Without it the applicant will still have to undertake much of the same work prior to submission.

The Teignbridge District Council Conservation Officer has expanded on his original response, saying (amongst a number of other things) that:

From my observations to date though, I am doubtful that effective mitigation is possible for the setting of Mamhead House, given its commanding and elevated position noted against the wider falling land of the landscape running east towards Cofford Farm. I would hope that a solar park of this scale can be located elsewhere in a less sensitive landscape location.

After originally submitting a "a non-committal response" English Heritage later said they:

Have a concern that it has the potential to impact on a group of heritage assets at Mamhead, including Mamhead House and its associated registered landscape. In view of this, we need to issue a revised consultation response.

That revised response doesn't seem to have arrived at the Teignbridge DC planning department before they issued their decision about the matter, which reads as follows:

I have concluded that the proposal does not constitute EIA development for the following reasons:

• The site does not lie in [a] sensitive are[a] for the purposes of the regulations; and,
• Although it exceeds the thresholds laid down in Column 2 of Schedule 2 it is not likely to have significant effects on the environment.

I guess it all depends on how you decide to define the word "significant", and that Pegasus Environmental had read the right dictionary when they suggested in their original request for a screening opinion that "there is unlikely to be significant affects upon these [designated] areas"?

If you'd like to read the associated paperwork in full there's a link to it all over on our list of large scale solar photovoltaic projects.