Bretton Hall Farm solar farm – public consultation set to take place

A public consultation is set to take place on ambitious plans to create the largest community-owned solar farm in the UK.

The site – measuring the size of more than 60 football pitches – is located at Bretton Hall Farm.

It covers 49 hectares of land currently used for sheep grazing, which will continue after construction.

The site lies within the administrative boundaries of both Flintshire County Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council, spanning two local planning authority boundaries, and the national boundary between Wales and England.

Consultation events for local residents and stakeholders will take place later this month through drop-in events in Saltney and Broughton.

The solar farm will have a generation capacity of 30MW and provide enough electricity to supply 8,400 homes.

It is estimated that this will lead to an overall saving of 6800 tonnes of CO2 every year during the 40-year lifetime of the project.

Ynni Newydd (New Energy) the organisation behind the development said the proposed site “will be a source of clean, renewable energy that will mitigate climate change and provide benefits to the local community through community ownership, those behind the project say.”

Ynni Newydd plans to raise the money to develop the solar farm by offering shares to local residents and organisations.

Within 3-5 years the project would begin to generate a surplus “to support projects providing sustainable community benefits.”

Over the operational lifetime of the solar project – around 35 years – Ynni Newydd expect that to range between £10 to £20 million, subject to wholesale energy prices.

Grant Peisley a Director of Ynni Newydd said: “All are welcome to come and meet the team, this is a fantastic opportunity for them to talk to local people about the solar farm.”

Before putting together the planning documentation we held an early consultation which showed a lot of interest.”

“Due to Covid, however, this needed to be virtually, so this is the first time we have been able to go into the community and we’re really looking forward to it”.

Consultations for the proposed developments will be held at Saltney Community Centre on Thursday 25th November and Broughton Wings Club on

Friday 26th November, between 1pm and 7.30pm

There will also be a static display in Lache Library between 25th November and 2nd December.

Staff will be present on launch day the 25th, between 2pm and 7pm.

A large display will be available for people to browse, and also forms to express their views.