‘Unanswered questions’ for Northamptonshire residents as noise levels for proposed solar farm and battery storage revealed

Held at Wilbarston Village Hall on Thursday (September 24) Friends of the Airfield and the Valley (FAV) invited locals to a presentation revealing noise-impact figures for the proposed Solar Array and BESS (Battery Storage System).

Using the developer's own figures from the planning application, FAV explained the likely noise levels at nearby receptors, the specific locations used to assess noise exposure under planning guidance – and the impact on Wilbarston and neighbouring areas.

Brent Knox-Holmes, FAV’s spokesman on noise, said: “There is a lot of documentation from the developer regarding the issue of acoustics.

“When this is drilled down into it raises questions of clarity and a lot of unanswered questions such as what will be done to mitigate this problem.

“We have sent our comments and questions to the planning department of North Northants Council but thought that they should also be shared with the residents who may have their own questions which need answering as, at the moment there is no deadline to submit them to the council.”

Innova Renewables’ proposed development would support the UK’s ‘transition to Net Zero’ and increase the use of renewable energy by supporting the supply of energy to the National Grid.

A spokesman said: “The site has been carefully selected and designed through a detailed assessment process. This initially considered grid availability, land availability, environmental designations, planning policy, access, and impacts on landscape, heritage, agricultural land quality, and ecological matters.

“A team of expert consultants has been appointed to undertake site-specific assessments, which are currently ongoing. Following the results of these surveys, consultation with the council, and a public consultation, iterative design work will be undertaken prior to submission of the full planning application.”

Many of the attendees at the meeting were concerned that they had ‘no idea’ that the village and surrounding villages could be affected by noise from the development of the solar array and BESS.

Some had been assured at the public presentation in January that there would be no noise from the development.

A FAV spokesman added: “There was widespread dismay that the developer had given no warning or explanation to the risk of background noise to the public. There was also anxiety on how the noise would affect the fauna using the woodlands of the two SSSIs [sites of special scientific interest] which border the site.

FAV is inviting the public to a walk along the Jurassic Way to the point of connection from the solar array to the National Grid, which sits in a prominent position overlooking the Welland Valley, and which will be seen for miles around.

The walk is on Sunday, October 4, at 2pm from the Wilbarston playing fields, a distance there and back of about one mile.

More public presentations and updates will be held at later dates.

Innova says that Desborough Airfield Solar Site’s landscaping planning, seeding and habitat creation plans will ‘focus on native species’ that will ‘contribute to securing long term biodiversity net gain across the site’.

The solar farm has been designed to leave green spaces around the site boundaries and between the rows of panels to ‘avoid shading and maximise electricity generation’, leaving the majority of the solar array as ‘uncovered grassland’.

RAF Desborough is a former Royal Air Force station which opened in September 1943 and closed in the 1950s.