Another site added to plans for more than 2,000 acres of solar farms around north Northamptonshire villages

Referred to as A.2, the new proposed Green Hill Solar Farm site sits on the corner of the A43 and Kettering Road in Walgrave, adding another 160 acres to the proposal, bringing the total to 2,507 acres of land consumed by equipment for solar energy.

Lesley Giles, project manager of Green Hill Solar Farm, said: “In June 2024, we took the decision to include the land near site A, which is referred to as site A.2, in our proposal for solar development. This is following ongoing assessments on selecting the site.

"Previously, this land was within the initial site selection and came under consideration for the cable route search area. It has now been identified as a suitable site for solar development.”

During a public consultation at Mears Ashby Village Hall in March, seven sites across 10 parishes, which span from Bozeat and Easton Maudit to just north of Walgrave, were put forward for public scrutiny. News of the eighth site was posted to the Green Hill Solar Farm website on June 28.

Plans have not been finalised, and applicants Island Green Power have ‘not yet defined exactly what the additional site would be used for’, but note that its inclusion in the proposal will give it ‘greater flexibility over where the panels are located.’

Within a 2km distance of the planned sites there are 318 listed buildings, 10 of which are Grade I listed, and 15 are Grade II listed, including the Church of St Mary in Grendon.

Lesley Giles added: “The proposal to include an additional site (A.2) will give us more chance to refine the final design to reflect the feedback we have received.

“With this additional site, we will have enough land to meet the National Grid generation capacity of 500MW. This capacity will be enough to generate electricity to power a potential 115,000 homes.”

A further public consultation is planned to take place ‘later this year’, in which the local community will be able to have their say on the progress of Green Hill Solar Farm.