Purpose

This decision relates to a Development Consent Order made by
the Secretary of State (SoS) under the 2008 Planning Act
granting permission for the construction, operation,
maintenance and decommissioning of ground mounted solar
energy park covering an area of approximately 1,280ha that
would produce 800MW of energy to be transferred to a
proposed new National Grid substation at Navenby.
An application for this development was made in November
2024 and the examination in public commenced in May 2025
which ran for 6 months, following which the Examining
Authority (ExA), appointed by the SoS, prepared a
recommendation report. The SoS then had a further 3 months
to make the decision on whether to grant or refuse
development consent. The SoS made a decision to grant
consent for the development on 8 April 2026.
The Council, as a host authority, is a statutory consultee in the
development consent order process and is able to submit a
Local Impact Report (LIR) and Written Representations (WR) to
the ExA, which are a material consideration in the decision
process. The Council submitted a LIR and WR in June 2025
following approval by the Planning and Regulation committee.
The Council raised a number of objections to the proposal,
citing its potential effects on landscape character and visual
amenity, the loss of best and most versatile agricultural land,
impacts on heritage assets, and concerns regarding the
management of solar waste. In addition, concerns were
expressed about the lack of certainty around the proposed grid
connection, which is dependent on the delivery of a new
substation by National Grid at Navenby.
The SoS’s decision raises a number of issues and following legal
advice, the Council, jointly with North Kesteven District Council,
issued a Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) letter to the Government
Legal Department (GLD) and Springwell Solar Farm Limited (the
Applicant) on 23 April 2026, as Stage 1 of the judicial review
process. The PAP letter notified GLD and the Applicant of the
Council’s proposed claim for judicial review and set out the
grounds of challenge. The Council received responses to the
PAP letter from GLD and the Applicant on 6 May 2026.
Following review of the response letters and further legal advice
it is recommended that the Council proceeds to issuing a claim
for judicial review in the Administrative Court of the High Court
and challenges the lawfulness of the decision based on nine
identified grounds.

Decision

To approve the making of an application for permission to apply
for Judicial Review in the Administrative Court of the High Court
in relation to the decision granting a Development Consent
Order for the Springwell Solar Farm.

Alternative options considered

not challenging the decision