Land At Grove Farm, Bentley – Inquiry concerning major solar farm and heritage/landscape impacts in Suffolk

Tom Cosgrove KC and Rowan Clapp are currently appearing in a planning Inquiry on behalf of Babergh District Council considering proposals for a solar farm (up to 40MW export capacity) with ancillary infrastructure and cabling, DNO substation, customer substation and construction of new and altered vehicular accesses. The Inquiry is set to last several weeks and will be considering issues including heritage, landscape, renewable energy policy and alternatives. The case is of particular interest as it concerns a proposal wholly within a recently designated Conservation Area as well as being located close to a number of other nationally important designated heritage assets.