50 Megawatts of Solar Energy!

We are pleased to have helped secure planning permission on behalf of Clearstone Energy for a 49.9MW Solar Farm and Battery Storage facilities at Chosley Farm, near Odiham, Hampshire, over 110 hectares.

The application was decided by Hart District Council’s Planning Committee last week, with our suite of supporting Ecological, Arboricultural and Landscape information forming a significant part of the application documents.

We’ve been working on this project since early 2020 alongside DLP Planning Ltd, and despite a number of objections relating to landscape, visual and ecological impacts the committee decided in favor of the proposals.

A comprehensive Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) was prepared to demonstrate that impacts on the surrounding landscape and visual receptors were minimised with detailed planting and landscape enhancements proposed.

For Ecology we provided initial Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA), Bat, Breeding Bird, Badger, Botanical and Hedgerow surveys alongside a comprehensive Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA), Ecological Management Plan and Biodiversity Enhancement Strategy.

Despite a negative public perception of solar farms the proposals, with the cessation of intensive arable farming (which support very little habitat), delivers more than 40% biodiversity net gain! (BNG)