Northumberland Estates were granted planning permission by North Tyneside council to build a huge 56 hectares Solar farm (103 football pitches) on a Green Belt near Backworth conservation area in the North East of England.

It will be located wholly within the Green Belt and Wildlife corridor, making both nonexistent, and also on valuable agricultural land. Currently it is being used for grazing (mainly horses) and growing cereal crops. The site is in direct border with a conservation area of historic Backworth with listed buildings and residential houses as close as 150 -250 meters.
The environment is rich and diverse in native flora and fauna and even endangered species like bats red listed birds and badgers. It has been an invaluable asset enjoyed by many for years especially during the pandemic. There are paths, bridle ways which are popular and used by dog walkers, cyclist and horse riding. These will be decimated by this project. I’m not just talking about hectares of ground mounted solar panels but the construction of substation, maintenance buildings, high fence with barb wires and CCTV. The panels will be facing south and there are concerns around strong glares right into residential windows but also affecting drivers and pilots. There are serious risks of surface flooding, explosions, fire, increased crime, general light and noise pollution and potential health risks from electromagnetic radiation and toxins contaminating soil and water supplies. Local roads are all single lane windy roads and will not be able to support the increase in heavy construction traffic - a fatal accident waiting to happen.

This application has been submitted by a company that represents interests and wealth of the Duke of Northumberland. This company is well known in the area for forcing applications that are harmful to the environment and local people. There was no proper consultation with the wider public.

If they can build a solar farm of this size in such precious location, it means no land in UK is safe. They will keep building more solar farms ruining the countryside and contaminating the land that should be used to grow food.

This solar scheme will remove arable land from the local area for the next 40 years. It means even more essential food will need to be hauled from overseas causing extra pollution which defeats the idea of green energy and Net zero!

The representative of Northumberland Estates admitted that the reason why they picked this Land for this development is because it is cheaper for them to set up. Our Green Belt has been sacrificed for quicker and higher profits for the investors and the council agreed to it. This is a serious concern.

Our last hope is to make people aware of this horrible decision and to protest against it together. We hope you can support us.