Update on plans for solar park near Melksham

The developer is working on refining its plans for the solar and battery storage park following the close of its second stage of consultation in March, as it prepares to submit its application later this year.

At this stage, the team have announced a preferred Cable Route Search Corridor and added some minor areas to the project development boundary presented during the previous consultation.

During that previous consultation, a broad Cable Route Search Corridor was presented comprising an area in which underground cabling would connect the Solar PV Sites to one another and to Melksham Substation.

Following an initial review of feedback from the community and statutory stakeholders, ongoing assessments and further design work, a preferred route has now been identified, located to the South from the on-site 400kV substation and heading south towards Melksham substation.

Will Threlfall, Senior Project Development Manager at Island Green Power, said in a message to the public: “We are grateful for the feedback we received to the previous stage of our consultation, which continues to inform the refinement of our plans for the Project and is helping us to develop our proposals responsibly, and in a way that recognises local community and stakeholder views.

"We are also proud to show how our work continues to progress in the background, particularly our preferred Cable Route Search Corridor which shows significant refinement in comparison to what we presented in earlier consultation stages. These could reduce the Cable Route Search Corridor by at least 49 percent.

"We remain committed to an iterative public consultation process and are now consulting on minor additions to the Project development boundary that we presented in our earlier stage of consultation. If you live in proximity of those localised changes or want to share your views on them with us, please make sure to submit your feedback to us by 11 July 2025.

"Your feedback, together with the outcomes of ongoing assessments and design work, is helping to finalise the application for development consent, which we expect to submit to the Planning Inspectorate later this year.”

The preferred Cable Route Search Corridor can be viewed on the Lime Down Solar Park website at www.limedownsolar.co.uk/project.

The latest update from the developer also includes details of a targeted consultation which launched on Tuesday 3 June and is running until Friday 11 July, and focuses on a series of minor amendments to the development boundary:

- Six areas to enable the temporary highway and traffic works which would be required to safely accommodate the Abnormal Indivisible Load (AIL) vehicles needed during the construction phase of the Project.

- Nine areas where the proposed development boundary area has been adjusted to enable access to and within the Project site, and to avoid constraints such as woodland and hedgerows

The total of fifteen changes are described by the organisation as minor in nature and scale, each comprising an addition to the development boundary area of between 0.03 hectares (ha) and 0.69 ha.

The targeted consultation is not another phase of statutory consultation pursuant to Section 47 and Section 48 of the Planning Act 2008. It relates specifically to minor increases to the Project development boundary presented during the statutory consultation, which was held from 29 January to 19 March 2025.

All information regarding this targeted consultation, including how to submit feedback by the 11 July deadline, is available on the Project website at www.limedownsolar.co.uk.

To find out more about the localised changes, the developer is also holding an online webinar on Thursday 19 June from 6.30pm to 8pm. Information about registration and attendance can be found on the Project website.

Anyone wishing to receive updates about the ongoing development process is encouraged to register their details at www.limedownsolar.co.uk. The Community Relations team can be contacted directly by emailing [email protected], writing to FREEPOST Lime Down Solar, or calling 0808 175 6656.