We will be hosting a drop-in session on Monday 20th February 2023 at the Talbot Hotel, Malton between 3 – 7pm to exhibit planning application material, including plans and photomontages, and members of the team will be available to answer any questions you have. Please join us on this evening to learn more about the scheme.
Key scheme facts:
- Energy infrastructure projects need to be able to connect into the grid network to export the energy they produce. Ryedale District Council area only has one bulk supply point (otherwise known as a substation) and it is located to the north of Malton town, at Old Malton,
- The scheme’s location has been chosen because it sits directly next to the only bulk supply point in Ryedale District Council area, allowing it to connect into the grid and export its energy,
- Whilst the site comprises arable, agricultural land, not all of it is considered ‘best and most versatile’ (BMV), or as sometimes referenced, ‘prime’ agricultural land,
- National policy considers BMV land to comprise Grades 1, 2 and 3a land (lower grades from 3b – 5 are not considered BMV),
- Soil assessments carried out report that scheme comprises 6% Grade 1 land, 35% Grade 2 land and 15% Grade 3a land, meaning 56% of the Site is considered BMV agricultural land. The remaining 44% is Grade 3b (33%) and non-agricultural land (11%),
- Out of the 427,000 hectares of land in Yorkshire & the Humber used to grow wheat, barley and oilseed rape, the scheme, with an overall area size of 52.86 hectares, would take up approximately 0.012% of this agricultural land,
- National mapping (completed by Natural England Agricultural Land Classification Yorkshire and The Humber – ALC003 (naturalengland.org.uk)) shows that most of Ryedale District Council area comprises Grade 1, 2 or 3 land – which could comprise 3a (BMV) or 3b (non-BMV) land. It does not distinguish a difference for Grade 3 mapping purposes as this is when specific, onsite soil sampling and assessment is required to be undertaken to determine whether it’s BMV (Grade 3a) or not (Grade 3b),
- Whilst it has not been possible to verify the land grading in the wider vicinity of the site or across the whole of Ryedale District Council area (aforementioned this requires specific onsite soil sampling to be undertaken), national mapping suggests significant swathes of Ryedale District Council could comprise BMV land of Grade 3a,
- In light of this, any other location for the solar farm is likely to interact with some form of BMV land in Ryedale District Council area. Even so, siting the scheme further away from the existing Old Malton bulk supply point is not technically feasible as the scheme is required to be located near to a grid connection point and there are no other bulk supply points in Ryedale District Council area,
- Other poorer grade areas shown on the Natural England map (red, brown and yellow colouring), are either within the National Park, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) or comprise built-up settlements. There are also other areas within Yorkshire and the Humber with significantly larger proportions of high-grade BMV land considered Grades 1 and 2 (dark and light blue colouring),
- The scheme will be able to meet the average electricity consumption needs of 8,660 homes. This means the scheme could supply the average annual electricity needs of 38% of the households in Ryedale District Council, based on the number of households totalling 22,500,
- The scheme will also bring about carbon dioxide savings amounting to just over 12,500 tonnes per year,
- The development does not rely on any taxpayer funded subsidies and will pay significant business rates,
- The substantial landscaping and habitat enhancement plan will create an overall biodiversity net gain of approximately 105%. This means, compared to existing habitats on site which are impacted by intensive agricultural practices such as spraying pesticides and growing crops, new landscaping proposed, such as wildflower meadows and tree and hedgerow planting, will enhance opportunities for wildlife (including insects) to flourish,
- Provision of electricity directly into the Eden Business Park to help reduce energy costs for businesses,
- The development will deliver an index-linked, annual community benefit fund of £10,000 per annum over the development’s 40-year operational life. This will be made available to local community groups to put towards good causes and improvements to facilities.
Tenant Farmers
We recognise the financial impact the development would have on the tenant. This is why we are contributing half the annual compensation package being made available – a substantial figure which is payable annually index-linked for 40 years. This is multiple times the value of statutory compensation.
LINKS TO INFORMATION
Proposed Landscaping Scheme and Site Layout
How did we consult with the public?
WHY WAS THE SITE SELECTED?
Energy infrastructure projects need to be able to connect into the grid network to export the energy they produce. Ryedale District Council area only has one bulk supply point (otherwise known as a substation) and it is located to the north of Malton town, at Old Malton. The scheme’s location has been chosen because it sits directly next to the only bulk supply point in Ryedale District Council area, allowing it to connect into the grid and export its energy. As mentioned above, national mapping indicates that most of Ryedale District Council area comprises some form of ‘Best and Most Versatile’ (BMV) land (Grades 1, 2 and 3a), so that any other location for the solar farm would have some interaction with BMV land in Ryedale District (unless the scheme was sited somewhere in a National Park, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) or built-up settlement – none of which are feasible in technical or planning terms). In light of this, and the fact the solar farm needs to be sited near a grid connection point, the site was identified as being a technically feasible to enable the delivery an energy infrastructure project.
Through an extensive design iteration and public consultation process, the size of the site was refined even further and reduced from 120 hectares to 52.86 hectares. We wanted to remove as much BMV land as possible from the scheme. The scheme now comprises 6% Grade 1 land, 35% Grade 2 land and 15% Grade 3a land, meaning 56% of the Site is considered Best and Most Versatile agricultural land. The remaining 44% is Grade 3b (33%) and non-agricultural land (11%). Out of the 427,000 hectares of land in Yorkshire & the Humber used to grown wheat, barley and oilseed rape, the scheme, with an overall area size of 52.86 hectares, would take up approximately 0.012% of this agricultural land.
We have produced a constraints map to illustrate how we looked at other opportunities, however as illustrated on the map, there is only one bulk supply point in Ryedale District area and much of the land is shown to likely comprise some form of BMV land. The source for the grid network information can be found here; Generation availability map | Northern Powergrid
Ultimately, solar and battery schemes are required to help meet our Net-Zero targets and tackle the effects of climate change. They create local energy to improve our energy security, significantly add to our economy creating high-skilled, green jobs, and combined, will eventually lead to reduced energy prices as we won’t be as reliant on fossil fuel imports or impacted by international trading on the wholesale energy market.
At the end of the scheme’s operational life, the site can be fully reinstated to its original condition and the land returned to agricultural use. There might be other technology available at that stage to ensure our energy security is not affected, however until this point, solar farms and battery energy storage schemes make a highly important contribution towards grappling with climate change and our energy demands quickly, particularly as a result of the electrification of our lives including transport modes.
NEXT STEPS
We will be hosting a drop-in session on Monday 20th February 2023 at the Talbot Hotel, Malton between 3 – 7pm to exhibit planning application material, including plans and photomontages, and members of the team will be available to answer any questions you might have. Please join us on this evening to learn more about the scheme.
