Renewable energy company SSE Renewables is facing local opposition to the announcement of a new 1000 acre solar farm on a national nature reserve in Kent.
The Shepway Energy Park is expected to comprise six sites in Romney Marsh. The area is currently used by tourists, farmers and to sustain local wildlife.
Kent community group, Hands Off Our Marsh (HOOM), is organising against the plans.
HOOM is a member of the UK Solar Alliance (UKSA), which represents over 120 communities across Britain resisting the construction of solar farms on “productive farmland.”
Amanda Farrant, a representative of HOOM, said that “the marsh is grade 1 and 2 listed agricultural land…it’s a unique and extraordinary environment.”
“It has so much potential to grow crops that we’re going to need with the changing climate. We’re going to need the best and most versatile lands,” she added.
Ms Farrant began working with UKSA to strengthen her community’s case. She said that seeing how other solar farm projects have been built across the country is adding to anxieties in Romney Marsh.
Large scale solar projects can bypass local approval as they are considered Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (or NSIPs), which are approved by government ministers.
SSE Renewables announced plans for the site at the end of May and has begun consulting the local community. Consultations will continue until the end of July, while construction of the site is expected to begin in 2028.
Haveer Dookhit, senior project development manager at SSE Renewables, said that Romney Marsh has been chosen because of its strategic location in the south east of England and proximity to National Grid connections.
Alan Greenwood, stakeholder engagement manager at SSE, added that they hope to engage in “meaningful conversations,” with residents of Romney Marsh.
“We’re not just trying to take a patch of land and use it,” Mr Greenwood said.
Despite this, Farrant is not confident the group’s concerns will be allayed. “The climate crisis is creating a free for all…and everyone feels slightly powerless,” she said.
If it receives planning approval, Shepway Energy Park is expected to be completed by 2033. Mr Greenwood said “we build in a considered way over a realistic timescale” to reduce its impact on the local community.
