One Earth solar farm developers PS Renewables and Ørsted say they are committed to ‘being good neighbours’ following a consultation with residents and authorities including Newark and Sherwood District Council

The developers behind a large scale solar farm have said that are committed to ‘being good neighbours’ after they were told to address a number of concerns about the plans.

If approved, the One Earth solar farm would see hundreds of acres of agricultural land covered with solar panels, spread across the north of Newark and Sherwood, and stretching into Bassetlaw and parts of Lincolnshire.

Developers PS Renewables and Ørsted have now carried out a compulsory consultation in which feedback was gathered from residents and the relevant authorities ahead of plans being officially submitted.

Last week Newark and Sherwood District Council noted their own response to the consultation in which they highlighted a number of topic areas with ‘likely significant adverse effects’, which they would like to see addressed before the final plans are submitted.

There was also the belief among councillors that more could be done to boost biodiversity as part of the scheme beyond the 10% requirement for ‘Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects’ such as One Earth, and also requested that a ‘full and robust’ environmental statement be provided.

In response the developers said that all feedback from the consultation was currently being reviewed and that they are looking for ways to create new habitats and support conservation priorities across the site.

They added that current project designs include hundreds of acres which would be set aside for environmental enhancement areas and include features to increase biodiversity such as beetle banks, bug hotels, and standing water scrapes, as well as planting hedgerows, trees, wildflower and grassland mixes to support insects and other pollinators.

Ørsted and PS Renewables added that they ‘are committed to being a good neighbour’ and ensuring that the benefits of the project are felt locally.

“We want to ensure that any community benefit package we provide is something the community really wants to see,” said Matt Hazell, who is one of the project directors.

“That's why we asked the open-ended question during consultation last Autumn to find out what the community wanted and have been exploring those ideas.

“We have heard a number of requests to support local infrastructure and projects, so we created a community fund this spring, to begin supporting community initiatives before the project application has even been submitted.”

“We want to work with the community in order to design a package of benefits which will really make a difference and be impactful over the long term,” said Matt.

“We began our engagement with the community as early as possible during our consultation last Autumn and have further developed these ideas with the community throughout our consultation in June.

“The feedback received so far has given us a good understanding on what is important to the community; with a variety of projects including infrastructure, environmental and community based initiatives that we will continue to explore as we develop the community benefit package in more detail.”