Agenda item

Members are asked to further consider the proposal by Photovolt Development Partners (PVDP) to create a solar farm in West of Oxfordshire called Botley West Solar Farm and submit an additional response, if appropriate.

A second public consultation is being held until 8 February 2024. PDVP’s consultation leaflet is attached as an appendix. Further documents can be found by accessing the following link https://botleywest.co.uk/Home-Botley-West.html

With the permission of the Chair and the unanimous agreement of the Committee, this item was moved up the agenda so that Councillor R Smith could be involved in the discussion before departing for another engagement.

Following the opening of a second consultation period by the developers of the Botley West Solar Farm to gather further feedback on their proposed scheme, the committee considered the additional documents made available.

The Committee heard from a member who attended a recent event facilitated by West Oxfordshire District Council. Having had a chance to hear the views of the developer and the main opposition group, she was, overall, in favour of supporting the proposal though held some reservations over the level quoted of net percentage increase of Biodiversity.

One Member spoke  in opposition of the proposal listing a number of reasons including, the poor efficiency  of solar panels during winter months, and that the scheme did not provide anything for the town’s residents. Other options were available and should be explored such as the installation of panels on rooftops rather removing virgin agricultural land when food growth was already an issue nationally.

Members decided to defer the submission of a response to the next meeting on 9 January 2024 to allow additional time to review the proposal documents fully but considered two proposals in order to provide Officers with guidance to prepare a summary for circulation ahead of the meeting of the committees’ discussions.

The first proposal was that the Town Council is generally in favour of the solar energy & renewable energy scheme. This was Proposed by Cllr Crouch and Seconded by Cllr Robertshaw. Members voted unanimously in favour.

Secondly Cllr Smith proposed that the top three priorities as part of the Council’s response were  Climate change and energy need, Socioeconomics and Local Ecology. This was seconded by Cllr Crouch and Cllr Robertshaw. Members voted unanimously in favour.

Resolved:

1.      That, any further response to the proposal is deferred to the meeting of the Climate, Biodiversity & Planning Committee on 9 January 2024 and,

2.      That, Officers prepare a summary of the Committees discussions and distribute prior to the 9 January meeting based on the Committee’s support of the proposals.