Second solar farm for Yapton on the cards

Arun district’s first large-scale solar farm, at Bilsham Farm, Yapton, with the potential to supply electricity for 5,000 homes, was given planning approval last month and now a second scheme is being proposed just a few hundred yards away.

Renewable energy company Green Switch Developments has submitted plans to Arun District Council for a solar park on the southern outskirts of Yapton, on land north of Rookery Farm, Flansham.

Approximately 9,680 photo-voltaic panels, which convert the sun’s rays to electrical current, would be installed on the 15-acre site. Their expected peak output of 3 megawatts compares with 14.5 megawatts for the Bilsham Farm scheme.

Green Switch, based in Burscough, Lancashire, says in a planning statement accompanying the application that the solar park would have a lifespan of 25 years, after which it could either be removed and the land returned to growing arable crops, or a further application could be made to extend that period and fit new panels.

Even with the equipment on site, a limited amount of farming could continue. The statement explains: “To make full use of the agricultural potential of the site whilst the solar farm is in place, the landowner has been offered a grazing licence, which will allow grazing for up to 50 sheep per hectare.

“The ability for the remainder of the estate and adjoining agricultural land to remain in productive agricultural use would therefore not be jeopardised by the scheme.”

for the full report, read the Littlehampton Gazette on Thursday, March 20.