On 8th February 2024, City of York Council approved plans for a solar farm on land off Shirbutt Lane, south east of Hessay village and north of Rufforth village (postcode YO26 8JT, ref 23/00626/FULM).
Under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2009, the application will now be referred to the Secretary of State who will decide whether he wants to ‘call in’ the application and determine it himself, or whether the decision taken by the Council’s Planning Committee can stand.
We ran a period of community engagement in February and March 2023. Your feedback helped us shape the final plans. Read more about what’s planned and how we’ve updated the plans here.
Key facts
- The solar farm will have a capacity of 49.9MW, with the potential to generate enough electricity to meet the needs of over 13,000* average homes.
- Generating this energy from a solar farm, rather than from fossil fuels, would offset approximately 22,000 tonnes** of CO2 per year.
- The land beneath the solar panels would remain in agricultural use for sheep grazing, or we could create a wildflower meadow.
- A Community Benefit Fund could donate c.£500 per MW per year to the local community.
*Source: Homes Powered Equivalent calculated using the most recent statistics from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
**RenewableUK uses BEIS’s “all fossil fuels” emissions statistic of 446 tonnes of carbon dioxide per GWh of electricity supplied