Fury as giant £922m Net Zero project approved yards from homes - 'absolutely disgusting'

Disgusted villagers say they’ve been 'betrayed' after the approval of plans to build more than a million panels in what will be the country’s joint-biggest solar farm. Residents in the heart of rural Nottinghamshire are facing the prospect of fields of panels within a hundred metres of their homes. Local councillors say legitimate concerns over flooding risks and the impact of the 'biodiversity park' on food production have been ignored.

Last week, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero granted development consent for the Great North Road Solar and Biodiversity Park by developer Elements Green. The colossal energy scheme will see more than 2,500 acres of land north-west of Newark – stretching roughly 6.2 miles from north to south – filled with solar panels, alongside battery energy storage and grid connection infrastructure, with a maximum generation capacity of 800MW.

It’s understood Great North Road will be modelled in a similar fashion to the solar farm in Egmanton, also developed by Elements Green. Once fully operational, sometime after 2028, Great North Road will be the second-largest solar project in the country. Elements Green has said the park could power up to 400,000 homes - the equivalent of every home in the county. The estimated total cost for the project is £922m and will be privately funded.

Over the past three years, residents of Newark and Sherwood have expressed their ongoing concerns and frustrations with the project. Results of a public consultation carried out by Elements Green in 2024 revealed that more than half of all respondents objected to the plans, with just 16% supporting the proposals. Brenda Cox, one of the most outspoken locals opposing the park, has reacted with dismay to the news of the project’s approval.

"We’ve been betrayed on this. I think it’s disgusting and I’m almost at a loss for words," she said. "To be quite honest I think everyone is absolutely astounded that it has been passed through.” She added: “They don’t listen, they don’t listen at all, even after all of those meetings and consultations in the villages. It feels like all they’re bothered about is money, not how it affects people’s lives. When they call people like us nimbys, we’re not nimbys, we just want to look after our countryside.”

Her concerns cover everything from flood risk and disruption during the construction process to how the project will change the rural setting of the area. They also go beyond the local impact, with worries about how the approval will affect the country in the long-term. "Think about all of that lovely land dug up and covered in solar panels," Brenda said. "We are in a catastrophic situation at the moment with food imports. The Government has been signing off these contracts left, right and centre.

It all has a knock-on effect. "So much land across Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire has now been earmarked for solar panels, and that only means that we’re going to be able to grow less. We shouldn’t have to be reliant on other countries - we should be growing more of our own food.” The Joint Parishes Action Group (JPAG) was created in response to the plans, bringing together all 25 parishes and communities in the affected area. Figures from a survey carried out by the group in 2024 show that out of more than 1,300 people across the whole area, more than 70% objected to the plans - with more undecided than in favour.

Liz Hopkins, chairman of Carlton Parish Council, says that strength of feeling remains, and while people do acknowledge that something needs to be done to address renewable energy needs, most would rather see solar panels placed on rooftops instead of fields. “From day-dot we have tried to liaise and work with Elements Green to get the best possible outcome for our villages and they have listened to not one word,” she said. “The applicant has been playing with planning rules not designed for a project of this scale - it just feels wrong and I’m really disappointed in them.”

She said where changes have been made to the plans, they do not alleviate the perceived issues. She gave the example of fields surrounding Cromwell where solar panels will instead be replaced with new trees in an effort for the project to meet biodiversity targets. This land, she says, is classed as “best and most versatile”, making it ideal for growing - but it will still be taken out of food production. Chairman Hopkins said some residents in her village of Carlton will have fields of panels placed within 100 metres of their homes, and that concerns about flooding on the low-lying ground had been ignored.

She added: “As parish councillors we are not paid to do this, we do this on top of a full-time job, and all the other responsibilities we have. We started from absolutely nothing, learning everything along the way and we needed support to understand and challenge these plans. “I’m tired, I’m burnt out, and it impacts every aspect of our lives. But it’s not over yet - it almost feels like it will never be over.” A meeting of the JPAG group will take place soon to discuss next steps, with talk of launching an appeal.

Paul Williams, a technical consultant for solar action groups, said that a successful appeal and judicial review of the decision would be difficult as both the Planning Inspectorate and the Energy Department backed the plans. However, he did say that there are now many planning conditions and preparation works which need to be met and undertaken before any work can officially begin. Mr Williams was involved in getting the Norwell Foxholes Solar application turned down, and believes that the cumulative impact of applications across the area should be taken into account when the Government makes decisions on individual projects.

The decision of GNR follows the approval of the large-scale One Earth solar project just up the road in North and South Clifton, which will affect around 3,900 acres, as well the 800MW Springwell Solar Farm in North Kesteven. Cllr Janette Barlow, who represents the Coddington division of Nottinghamshire County Council, has consistently opposed industrial-scale solar applications on greenfield sites and farmland. She said: “This is a devastating blow for local residents and Nottinghamshire’s countryside.

Productive farmland and our open spaces are being sacrificed to meet national energy targets imposed from Westminster, while local concerns about flooding, highways, visual impact, biodiversity and the character of our villages risk being pushed aside. “This is not about being against renewable energy. We need clean energy, but it must not come at the expense of our best agricultural land and the communities that live and work here.” She went on to say that Nottinghamshire’s countryside is “not disposable” and called for “politicians who will stand up for rural communities, rather than allow national political priorities to take precedence over the concerns of local people”.