East Cambridgeshire District Council is to oppose plans for two huge windfarms in Mepal and Shippea Hill over concerns about agricultural land, food security, landscape and biodiversity.
The motion, passed by the Council on Thursday (15 October), recognises the importance of renewable and low-carbon energy and East Cambridgeshire’s significant contribution to renewable energy generation. However, councillors concluded that the scale and concentration of the two proposals would place an unacceptable additional burden on the district’s most productive agricultural land, communities and environment.
Vattenfall is proposing two nationally significant onshore wind farms in East Cambridgeshire. Chatteris Wind Farm at Mepal would cover approximately 2,471 acres (1,000 hectares), with up to 15 turbines reaching a maximum tip height of 220 metres - more than three times the height of Ely Cathedral - and a generating capacity of up to 126MW. Redmere Wind Farm at Shippea Hill would cover approximately 5,881 acres (2,380 hectares), with up to 32 turbines of the same maximum height and a generating capacity of up to 303MW.
Together, the sites would cover approximately 8,352 acres (3,380 hectares), much of it Grade 1 agricultural land. The motion also raised major concerns about the proximity of the Chatteris/Mepal proposal to the Ouse Washes, which is protected by multiple national and international designations, including as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Ramsar site, and the potential implications for migrating birds. Concerns were also raised about the proximity of the Redmere/Shippea Hill proposal to RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall.
East Cambridgeshire already hosts a significant number of solar farms and makes the largest renewable energy contribution of any district in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority area. The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough State of the Region Report records that the district generated approximately 508,000MWh of renewable energy in 2022 - 32% of the area’s total.
The 500MW Sunnica Energy Farm, a nationally significant solar and battery storage development, has also been granted consent, while the Kingsway Solar Farm developer has indicated that it intends to submit a revised application following the withdrawal of its previous proposal.
Both proposed wind farms would also require connections to the national grid at Burwell, more than 10 miles away. Burwell is already under significant pressure from other proposed grid connections, raising concerns that these schemes could cause substantial disruption across the wider district and require further supporting infrastructure.
Cllr Anna Bailey, who proposed the motion, said: “East Cambridgeshire supports renewable energy and is already making a substantial contribution to its generation. Our objection is not to renewable energy in principle, but to proposals of this scale being concentrated on some of the country’s most productive agricultural land, with potentially significant and long-lasting consequences for food security, the landscape, biodiversity and local communities.
“Renewable energy schemes must be delivered in a way that also protects the environment and the communities hosting this infrastructure. The Council will make robust, evidence-based representations as both proposals progress through the national consenting process.”
The Council will ask Vattenfall to reconsider the proposals and avoid Grade 1 agricultural land.
It will submit evidence-based representations, work with affected councils, lobby ministers and Charlotte Cane MP, and prepare a position statement on each proposal.
These representations will cover agricultural land, food production, landscape, biodiversity, flood risk, construction, energy infrastructure, aviation and impacts on communities.
The Secretary of State, rather than the Council, will determine both applications through the Development Consent Order process.