Stop the Sedgeby Solar Farm – Protect Our Countryside and Our Community

As residents of Sessay and the surrounding villages, we are deeply concerned about the proposed Sedgeby Solar Farm, a vast industrial-scale development planned just south of Thirsk in North Yorkshire.

This isn’t a small renewable project – it’s a 350-megawatt industrial installation, covering hundreds of hectares of our cherished open countryside, with plans for a huge lithium battery storage facility alongside it. The developers say it could power 210,000 homes — but at what cost to the people and wildlife who actually live here?

Our countryside under threat
The Sedgeby Solar Farm would transform rolling green farmland into an industrial energy site visible for miles around. The fields, hedgerows, and natural habitats that define the beauty of rural Yorkshire would be lost beneath a sea of glass and steel.
Wildlife that depends on these landscapes — from barn owls and hares to nesting birds and pollinators — will be driven out. The countryside many of us have walked, farmed, and loved for generations will be changed forever.

Battery fire risks and public safety
Even more alarming is the plan to install large-scale lithium-ion battery storage. Across the UK and abroad, similar systems have suffered serious fires and explosions — incidents that release toxic gases, require mass evacuations, and burn uncontrollably for days.
These are not minor risks. Our quiet rural villages are not equipped to handle a high-hazard energy installation of this scale. If anything were to go wrong, local residents and emergency services would bear the consequences.

Traffic, noise, and years of disruption
Construction would last more than a year and a half, bringing heavy lorries thundering down our narrow country lanes every day. These roads were never designed for HGVs. The risk of accidents, damage, and disruption to daily life is unavoidable.
Even after construction, the hum of equipment and maintenance traffic would shatter the peace that makes Sessay such a special place to live.

Our way of life at stake
We choose to live in North Yorkshire for its tranquillity, space, and beauty. This project would industrialise the landscape, reduce property values, and damage the well-being of local residents who rely on the countryside for peace, recreation, and mental health.
The so-called “community benefits” offered by the developer — a token payment spread thinly across the area — come nowhere near compensating for what we stand to lose.

There are better alternatives
We support renewable energy, but not at the expense of our countryside and community. Solar belongs on rooftops, brownfield sites, and industrial land — not on fertile fields and natural habitats.
There are smarter, safer, and fairer ways to achieve green energy goals without destroying what makes rural Yorkshire so special.

 
We, the undersigned, call on the relevant authorities to reject the Sedgeby Solar Farm proposal.
We demand that this development be halted and re-evaluated in favour of smaller, community-driven renewable projects that protect our landscapes, our safety, and our way of life.

Save Sessay. Save our countryside. Stop Sedgeby Solar Farm.