15/08/2025
Please object to the planned Solar development in Potters Crouch - APPLICATION REFERENCE : 5/2025/1132
The electricity company Exagen is proposing to install solar panels on every one of the fields owned by CP Holdings Ltd surrounding Potters Crouch, which is a Designated Conservation Area. It would in effect make Potters Crouch an island surrounded by a sea of solar panels.
Full details are available on the St Albans City & District Council Planning Portal under reference 5/2025/1132.
The Character Statement for the Conservation Area published by the Council states “Much of the character of the Potters Crouch conservation area comes from its rural situation and views across open fields and countryside”....All of this would be destroyed.
The local lanes are regularly used by walkers, runners, cyclists and horse riders, many of whom come from in and around Chiswell Green. The construction of the solar panels would require nearly 6,000 repeat 6,000 movements of heavy goods vehicles with weights up to 44 tons along Bedmond Lane and across all the other lanes. The lanes and the ancient hedgerows would be wrecked.
Of greater concern is the obvious danger to these walkers, runners, cyclists and horse riders with heavy vehicles passing on what are single width carriageways. It is almost inevitable there would be serious accidents or even worse, unless the lanes were closed completely for the 6 month period of construction.
The fields currently are highly productive, despite the claims to the contrary by the developers. Hundreds of tons of grain currently produced would have to be replaced by imports.
These beautiful fields full of birds and other wildlife would be destroyed. The solar panels in all probability will come from abroad. So much for the claims that the project would help the environment!
Plaistow’s Airfield is an important asset and sporting venue for the local community and wider. Apart from the flying activities, it supports a wide range of charitable initiatives including youth and disabled organisations. Were the project to go ahead, it would have serious safety implications for the airfield. Should an aircraft currently operating from the airfield have an engine problem after takeoff or on approach to land, with fields covered in solar panels there would be nowhere safe to land, consequently risking serious injury or worse.
There are large tracts of derelict land in the local area that could alternatively be used for a solar panel project. The only grounds for using valuable agricultural land rather than derelict land is that, were the project to be approved, it would result in vast profits for the developers.
The developers claim that at the end of the project the land would revert to agricultural use. The reality is that it would almost inevitably be used for housing.
Please voice your opposition as soon as possible by submitting a response on the Planning Portal referred to above, or use our objection generator to create an email objection.
https://keepchiswellgreen.org/objections/
If the "Open in email app" button doesn't work for you, please just copy the generated email body, update to your requirements, and send your email to:
[email protected]
Please ensure that you provide your name and address in the email along with your objection.
Here is a link to the application on the SADC website if you want to enter your objection there instead:
https://planningapplications.stalbans.gov.uk/planning/search-applications?civica.query.FullTextSearch=5%2F2025%2F1132 ?RefType=PBDC&KeyNo=133980
Thank you for continuing to help to Keep Chiswell Green.
We will contact you again soon about the application at the Noke.
