Council’s legal action to challenge Sunnica compensation
Suffolk County Council has written to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Rt Hon. Ed Miliband MP, regarding his decision to approve the Sunnica solar farm.
This pre-action protocol letter is the first step in potential judicial review proceedings against the Sunnica solar farm project, in a bid to secure appropriate funding for work that the council will have to do as a result of the scheme.
The council believes that, in his haste to approve the application in just a matter of days, the Secretary of State ignored the council’s funding arguments.
This means that the developer, Sunnica, only has to pay a minimal amount to cover costs that will be forced upon the council, as a result of their project going ahead.
This comes at a time when local authorities are having to make difficult financial decisions across all service areas, in order to prioritise supporting the most vulnerable in their communities, through adult social care and SEND.
Councillor Richard Rout, Suffolk County Council’s Deputy Cabinet Member for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, said:
“The new Secretary of State has made a terrible start to his tenure, by waving through the awful Sunnica application with reckless abandon.
“In doing so, he has shown scant regard for the communities affected, and for the local authorities who must pick up considerable amounts of additional work as a result of the project going ahead.
“He was only in post for a matter of days before approving a number of energy projects - it would have been impossible for him to fully review the Sunnica application, and to see how flawed it was.
“One of the crucial things he has ignored is the insufficient amount that Sunnica has proposed to reimburse local councils for dealing with conditions attached to the application. This is an embarrassing, clumsy and entirely avoidable error by the Secretary of State. This is why we are taking legal action.”
When permission is granted for a nationally significant infrastructure project to proceed, it is on the condition that the developer follows the requirements laid out in the Development Consent Order.
These are monitored by the relevant local authority, and signed off when the requirements of various stages of the project are met. The scheme can then move onto its next stage of construction.
This creates much additional work for the council to do, and so funding for the council must be provided by the developer in the form of application fees.
Cllr Rout continues:
“This is a time when councils across the country are financially stretched and facing difficult decisions about their budgets in order to support those who need it most in our communities. The Secretary of State has added to this pressure by heaping more work on our authority, without adequate compensation.
“With one swift stroke of a pen, he has set a dangerous precedent and has dismissed the voices of thousands concerned residents, leaving their communities with an uncertain future, and our council with woefully inadequate remuneration for the work that is ahead of us.”