Sussex MP wants to call in controversial Ringmer solar farm proposals

Maria Caulfield, Conservative MP for Lewes, wrote to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, after what she described as ‘overwhelming levels’ of complaints from residents in the village.

On Wednesday, November 9, Lewes District Council’s planning committee is set to consider an application to erect a solar panel array and associated infrastructure on a series of fields between Uckfield Road and Norlington Lane.

Ms Caulfield wrote on Facebook: ““I have called this application in with the Secretary of State should the council approve it, after overwhelming levels of complaints from residents in Ringmer, furious that the solar farm is being recommended for approval by Lewes District Council after they gave the scheme £150k.

"This money could have saved Ringmer Swimming Pool, but instead prime farming land for food production is being taken out and more green space taken away from Ringmer.”

The Secretary of State has the power to take over the determination of planning applications rather than letting the local authority decide it, referred to as ‘calling the application in’.

The proposals, from community interest company OVESCO, were raised to the council in March last year and outlined plans for the 70-acre site to potentially generate up to around 14,000 MW of clean electricity every year.

A key concern for objectors – including Ms Caulfield – was the loss of farming land and its impact on the countryside character of the surrounding area.

This matter came to a head in August this year, when a OVESCO-led agricultural report found that large areas of the site contained soil of excellent farming quality (43.1 per cent) – a higher percentage then the group previously thought.

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This led to many Lewes politicians calling for the plans to be scrapped, with councillor Matthew Bird calling the findings ‘extremely disappointing’.

However, Liberal Democrat Sean MacLeod, a councillor for Ouse Valley and Ringmer, defended the project and said: “Yes, mistakes have been made around the land grading but I still feel this is the right thing to do.

"I fully believe as a Green Liberal Democrat that we have to invest in renewables and I feel this will help.”