Opinion · Euroglobal New
The size of the project meant that recommendations for the scheme were made by the Planning Inspectorate, rather than local planning authorities. The inspectorate's examination stage took more than five months to complete, opening in October 2025 and closing in April. More than 1,200 people and businesses sent comments about the plans.
Juliet Jarvis, from the Stop Green Hill Solar campaign group, said she was "pretty devastated" by the news. She said the panels, which she compared in size to "double decker buses", would surround Grendon and Easton Maudit and cause "disruption during construction". "Once the solar farm is in place, it will completely change the face of Northamptonshire countryside.
"We would like to see... appropriate brownfield sites covered with solar panels before we take up our best and most versatile agricultural land and risk destroying rural communities which is what we fear will happen here," Jarvis added. Labour peer Baroness Curran, the parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, said: "Solar power is crucial to delivering energy security for the country and financial security for communities, families and businesses. "By securing more homegrown power we control, we are driving a generational opportunity to grow our economy and tackle the root cause of sky-high energy bills: our exposure to volatile global fossil fuel markets." Island Green Power, the company behind the scheme, "welcomed" the government's decision.
Chief executive Bob Psaradellis said: "This decision again confirms that Island Green Power produces high-quality nationally significant infrastructure proposals that will benefit Britain. "The benefits will be shared with communities, through a local benefit fund, and the wider country, through the increase in secure, clean and cheap homegrown power." Renewable energy expert Rhiannon De Wreede said she "sympathised" with campaigners but added that large solar farms were "needed" alongside more rooftop panels. Green Hill Solar said the farm would "benefit Britain with clean, secure, low-cost energy".
It said the scheme could generate 500 megawatts of electricity to power about 200,000 homes. It is hoped construction will begin in 2027, with the aim of providing electricity to homes by 2029, the company said. Do you have a story suggestion for Northamptonshire?
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Source: BBC
