Communities

Our commitments to your community are:

We will be sensitive to locally protected landscapes and nature conservation areas, and we welcome opportunities to enhance the ecological value of the land.

We will minimise visual impact where possible and maintain appropriate screening throughout the lifetime of the project managed through a land management and/or ecology plan.

We will encourage land diversification by proposing continued agricultural use or incorporating biodiversity measures within our projects.

We will engage with the community in advance of submitting a planning application.

We will do as much buying and employing locally as possible.

At the end of the project life we will return the land to its former use and the solar panels will be disposed of responsibly.

We will act considerately during construction and look after the land for the lifetime of the project.

The solar farm can be used for educational purposes – maybe by environmental groups and local schools.

We will offer a community benefit fund to local organisations and causes which can be used to improve local projects and schemes.

Timeline

Feasibility:

Initial conversations with Local Planning Authorities and other key stakeholders such as Parish Councils. Our Design Consultants begin work on surveys and reports such as Ecology Surveys, Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments, and Traffic Management Surveys.

Listening:

Sharing our initial ideas through websites, leaflets, and exhibitions, and listening to the feedback. Meeting with members of the community, encouraging debate, discussion and scrutiny. Our plans are high level at this point so that the communities we join can help shape the final design.

Designing:

Reviewing our plans based on the feedback that we have received from the community.

Updated plans and reports are shared on our project website as they become available.

Submitting:

We are always here to listen. There will still be time to influence our design even after we’ve submitted our application to the Local Planning Authority.

Building:

Once the site is operational, we want people to continue to engage with the project through educational visits and we want to continue to support local projects that align with our ethos.