WE ARE IN THE EXAMINATION PERIOD: ENDS 27 MARCH 2026. IF YOU REGISTERED BY 20 AUGUST TO ‘HAVE YOUR SAY’, MAKE SURE YOU NOW REGISTER YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THE OPEN FLOOR HEARINGS ON 9 AND 12 DECEMBER. REGISTRATIONS TO PARTICIPATE CLOSE 26 NOVEMBER.
https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/EN010170
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STOP Green Hill Solar. Sort code: 30-99-50 Account: 50098762
A massive industrial solar utility is proposed, spread over rural Northamptonshire. Announced in spring 2024, the Green Hill Solar farm’s 2,965-acre multi-site locations will cover farmland and greenfield spaces, bordering or significantly affecting the villages of Grendon, Easton Maudit, Bozeat, Mears Ashby, Earls Barton, Holcot, Old, Walgrave, Lavendon and beyond. 19 miles of underground cabling linking sites back to Grendon substation and BESS in Grendon and Mears Ashby, will affect many more people.
The Development Consent Order (DCO) application was made to the Planning Inspectorate, who ‘accepted it’ for Examination in June 2025. The Examination period started October 2025 and will close on 27 March 2026, with a Decision made in the subsequent three months.
Detailed documents show land affected, (including Compulsory Purchase Orders); underground cable routes; the layout of solar arrays; the locations of works compounds, substations, BESS; the transport routes and closures of PROWs, removal of hedgerows and trees.
HOW WILL YOU BE AFFECTED?
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We want renewable energies, but in the right locations.
Green Hill Solar will be one of the largest solar utilities in the UK, outputting up to 500 MW of power with a total area nearly as big as Heathrow airport. The Mears Ashby site alone covers around 1,000 acres, and the Grendon and Easton Maudit installation spreads across more than 770 acres.
The 60-year, ‘temporary’ solar panel fields will connect into the National Grid substation in Grendon with smaller substations built within the scheme. A massive 500 MW battery storage development (BESS) is planned in Grendon, with another BESS site near Sywell/Mears Ashby.
The fields of rotating and/or fixed solar photovoltaic arrays up to 4.5m high will connect to the substation via underground cabling, passing through open land, roads and waterways. Households along possible cabling routes may have already received letters. The developers confirm there could be compulsory purchase of land to accommodate cable ducts: cable route search areas are bordered in orange on maps.
Such is the industrial size of the proposed solar farm it is considered an NSIP: a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, as was HS2. The planning application will be approved or rejected by the Secretary of State, not local councils.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-greenhill/
