Disgruntled residents - including the former Conservative Party leader and MP Lord Howard - have hit out at plans for a solar farm to serve a 10,000-home new town.
Folkestone and Hythe District Council discussed the proposed scheme for the garden settlement in July 2023 encouraging developers to consider setting it up on council-owned land in Lympne, to the south west of the site.
But villagers say “there’s no need” for it adding it would be a terrible loss of high-quality farmland.
Christopher Edwards and his wife Sally have lived next door to the 48-acre field for 28 years, which is currently leased by a farmer who pays the council £9,370 a year.
Mr Edwards says the build concerns him for several reasons, one is that the field is on a slope which could result in his property becoming flooded if crops are replaced with solar panels.
“It’s beautiful arable countryside and there’s no need to do it,” he said.
“The field slopes down toward us and what has happened in the past is if they don’t have a crop growing in the field then we get flooding coming down to our house and driveway.
“We had one year where it took all the gravel off the driveway lower down and into our cellar. If you have solar panels there we’ll get flooding because there will be no crops to take the water out, unless they put a drainage system in.”
Mr Edwards, who is the chairman of a new long-term energy storage company, added: “It’s no good just blundering on and saying ‘we need more solar and wind’ without understanding what we really need is energy storage.
“We must get FHDC to look at alternatives and recognise there’s no need to do this and look at the possibility that there could be other things which would make this an exemplar for the UK.
“Energy storage is almost the biggest problem faced by the world in my opinion. If you can store energy on [mass] scale, the problem of paying the owners of wind and solar farms just more than £3 billion a year in curbing charges, could be solved.”
Michael Howard, who was MP for Folkestone and Hythe between 1983 and 2010, also lives near the patch of land and says although he does not have a problem with solar farms, he fears this is the wrong location for one.
“The government has recently said, that good agricultural land should not be used for solar farms and the field is grade two which is defined as good,” the Lord Howard of Lympne said.
“I’m not against solar farms in principle but I don’t think this is the right site for one mainly because it would take up good agricultural land and we need it to grow our food.”
Also against the plans is Derek Burles, who started the Otterpool Solar Forum – a group formed in a bid to stop the solar farm proposals in Court-At-Street.
He says although the council is considering solar panels on the roofs of all homes included in the scheme as well as a solar farm, this is “only part of the story”.
“The maximum benefit to both the council and the community will only be realised if the rooftop generation is part of a district energy system that should also include an energy storage system (not based on batteries),” he said.
“[It should also include] an independent smart grid, together with a marketing plan embracing house builders, home buyers and tenants to manage and complete the process and avoid the need to destroy 48 acres of arable land in Court-At-Street.”
In total, 10,000 homes are proposed for the Otterpool housing project, which would also feature new schools, shops, roads and open green spaces.
It is destined for land at and around the former Folkestone Racecourse, which was purchased by FHDC in 2020 for £25m.
In the report first put forward in July 2023 proposing a solar farm, it was recommended the cabinet would approve a budget of up to £50,000 from the approved Otterpool budget to fund the legal and financial reviews and modelling associated with the project.
The council also noted the additional adjacent land, which is slightly smaller in size, could be an extension of the solar farm if needed.
This week, KentOnline asked FHDC if there had been any update on the plans, and a spokesperson said there is not.
Meanwhile, council leader Jim Martin (Green), said the council is awaiting companies’ detailed business cases on the proposal.
“My ambition for Otterpool is that it will be a net zero community,” he said.
“This means, day to day when averaged across a year, the Garden Town will generate more carbon-free electricity than it consumes.
“Prior to the election in May 2023, there was not one single solar panel planned at Otterpool. Now we are hoping to put thousands on roofs and to be able to generate an electricity surplus.
“The solar panels in the field may or may not be part of the plan, this will depend on the results, once the experts have completed their work.
“Personally, I will be looking for a significant carbon saving to justify the work.
“One advantage of putting solar panels in the field is, that it generates electricity before we build any houses. This carbon-free electricity will supply the construction site and impact (slightly) on the embedded carbon cost of the construction.
“If there is eventually a proposal to put solar panels in an Otterpool field, we will also include a number of other measures, such as wildflowers, hedges as screens, bee hives, community gardens and possibly a community orchard.
“There are many variables to consider, carbon reduction is vitally important, but we would always consider all aspects of any proposal while also seeking integrated solutions that provide mitigation.”
