RES has submitted a planning application to Sevenoaks District Council for a solar farm on land between Horton Kirby and Fawkham. The name “Chimmens” comes from a common name associated with one of the fields within the site.

Our goal is to develop a solar project that will:

• Fight climate change (which is a long-term threat to the countryside)
• Improve energy security
• Provide local economic benefits
• Integrate into the local landscape
• Enhance local biodiversity

If consented, it is anticipated that the solar farm will be capable of generating up to 49.9 MW of clean, low cost renewable electricity. This is enough to power approximately 19,194¹ homes, saving up to 32,000² tonnes a year of CO₂ compared to electricity from fossil fuels like gas.

RES believes in meaningful and effective consultation and we aim to engage early with the local community and key stakeholders in order to facilitate constructive consultation. This helps to identify issues and concerns, as well as benefits and opportunities, which we can then consider when developing the design of the proposal.

In July 2023 we consulted key stakeholders and the public on our initial design for our proposed Chimmens Solar Farm. This included a meeting with parish councils on 28th June 2023 and a public exhibition on 10th July 2023 at Fawkham Parish Hall, enabling people to learn more about the project, discuss the proposal with our project team, provide us with feedback on the preliminary design.

You can read more about our consultation activities in our Statement of Community Involvement found here.

The solar farm has been designed to integrate into the surrounding area as appropriately as possible and the results of a Landscape and Visual Assessment (LVA) has been used alongside topographical surveys results to inform the design.

There will not be a long-term loss of greenfield or greenbelt land as the development can be returned to agricultural practices at the end of the solar project.

There are strong local and national policies demonstrating the need for renewable energy projects in order to tackle climate change and meet the government’s targets for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Chimmens Solar Farm aligns with these policies and the benefits of the renewable energy generated by the project would be realised locally and nationally.

More information can be found in the Landscape and Visual Assessment (LVA) which has been submitted as part of the planning application.

Access is an important consideration when selecting a potential solar farm site. We have undertaken traffic surveys, a topographic survey and consultated with Kent Highways to inform the project design.

The access strategy includes a delivery route for construction materials via A20 > Scratchers Lane > Three Gates Road.

This route avoids the villages of Horton Kirby and Fawkham Green and therefore avoids potential disruption during construction.

More information can be found in the Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP) which can be found here.

An extensive landscaping plan accompanies the planning application and proposes landscaping and planting measures including:

• New native woodland to provide additional visual enclosure of the proposals along the northern boundary of the site;
• Existing hedgerow infilled wherever necessary with proposed native hedgerow species to ensure dense coverage and further define field boundaries and provide additional visual enclosure;
• Extensive planting of new native hedgerows (more than 4,000m) across the site to define field boundaries where none are present, or have been lost over time;
• Species rich grassland throughout the site will be managed through low intensity grazing by sheep; and
• Creation of approximately 35 acres of Skylark habitat will offer significantly improved foraging opportunities for skylark nesting adjacent to the solar farm, as the grassland habitats will support a larger biomass of insect prey items than the intensively cultivated arable land.

Chimmens Solar Farm, if consented, will deliver new landscape and ecological measures and an overall Biodiversity Net Gain of 45% net gain in area habitats and 39% net gain in hedgerow habitats. All of these new habitats will provide significant improvements for all species in the local area.

The LEMP is contained in the LVA Appendix 7 which can be found on the planning application page.

 

^{1 RES has changed the formula for the homes powered and therefore the homes figure is now calculated by taking the predicted annual electricity generation of the site (using an average capacity factor of 11.2%) and dividing this by the annual average electricity figures from DESNZ (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formerly BEIS) showing that the annual GB average domestic household consumption is 3,239 kWh (January 24). Note, the change in formula has led to a difference in homes powered to that previously publicised.}

_{2 RES now uses DESNZ’s “all non-renewable fuels” emissions statistic of 424 tonnes of carbon dioxide per GWh of electricity supplied in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (July 2023) Table 5.14 (“Estimated carbon dioxide emissions from electricity supplied”) to calculate carbon reduction. Carbon reduction is calculated by multiplying the total amount of electricity generated by the solar farm per year by the number of tonnes of carbon which fossil fuels would have produced to generate the same amount of electricity. Note, the change in source has led to a difference in carbon offset to that previously publicised.}

^{3 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6556027d046ed400148b99fe/electricity-generation-costs-2023.pdf}

^{4 https://solarenergyuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Copper-Consultancy_Solar-Energy-UK_Public-attitudes-to-solar_January-2022.pdf}