Application:
P24/V2489/FUL | Installation of ground mounted solar photovoltaic array with associated infrastructure, security fence, CCTV, cable route, landscaping, and onsite biodiversity net gain (Resubmission). WRITTEN REPRESENTATIONS TO BE RECEIVED BY 29 MARCH 2025 | Land to the West of Red House Farm Eynsham Road Farmoor OX2 9ND
Our Response:
March 2025
We object to this application. In 2023 Green Belt land made up only 12.6% of the United Kingdom, far less now following the recent classification of ‘Grey Belt’ land. The application site is in the Oxford Green Belt and fulfils 4 of the 5 Green Belt purposes outlined in the NPPF preventing urban sprawl.
This application is the latest in a series of small piecemeal solar farm applications submitted across the Oxford Green Belt, lacking strategic allocation. The site’s proximity to the proposed 840 MW Botley West solar farm highlights this.
We urge officers and policy makers to produce a strategy for the location of renewable energy schemes across Oxfordshire. Oxfordshire’s Green Belt, and in particular the highly sensitive green setting of the historic city of Oxford is at threat from incremental, inappropriate development. A strategic approach is needed to assure that the most sensitive areas of countryside are avoided. Without such a strategy, applications will be determined on a piecemeal basis, with no consideration of the cumulative impacts.