Solar farm approved on former RAF bombing site

A solar farm has been approved on land which used to be used by the RAF to practise bombing in World War Two.

Sand Lane Solar Farm, on land east of Kirton Road and west of Manton Village, near Messingham, North Lincolnshire, will have capacity to produce 20.2MW of electricity.

A condition of PS Renewables' planning permission for the farm is that the area must be checked for unexploded bombs before it is built.

Meanwhile, councillors have refused plans for another solar farm at Scawby Brook, near Brigg, on the grounds of unjustified use of productive agricultural land.

Manton Parish Council initially objected to the 32.5 hectare Sand Lane Solar Farm over fears construction traffic would blight the small village.

However, the developer has committed to no construction vehicles accessing the site via Manton, and the objection was subsequently withdrawn.

Construction of the solar farm is expected to take six months and involve up to 50 workers.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, part of the site was formerly the Black Walk Practice Bombing Range, used by the RAF between 1943 and 1945, with records showing between 16 and 32 practice bombs being dropped each month.

The target marker was located about 100m north of the site.

An unexploded bomb assessment, submitted as part of the planning application, found no evidence of German bombing, but a moderate hazard level for part of the site due to the risk of inaccurate unexploded practice bombs.

Due to their nature, practice bombs tend to be buried at a shallow depth.

The planning permission is subject to a magnetometer survey being carried out to detect any potential shallow-buried unexploded bombs.

The proposed 49.9MW Scawby Brook Solar Farm would have covered 85 hectares, including space for a 30MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).

Planning committee member Councillor Carol Ross moved refusal and agreed with objectors' observations that it was good-quality farmland, with a crop grown there for the past 29 years.

Councillors agreed to turn down the application.

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