The petition of residents of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire,
Declares that the announced proposal by Brockwell Storage and Solar to build a 1,900-acre solar farm, known as East Park Energy, has caused great concern among residents of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, who are deeply worries as to the scale of the development, and that the development has been classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, which has raised additional concerns about its impact on residents; further declares that the proposed site would result in the loss and permanent damage of Grade 2 and 3a agricultural land, removing it from food production; and notes that an online petition on this matter received 1,067 signatures.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to not approve the East Park Energy proposal and to take immediate action to remove its Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project status.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Ben Obese-Jecty, Official Report, 6 March 2025; Vol. 763, c. 541.]
[P003050]
Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Michael Shanks):
The application for development consent for the proposed East Park Energy project is expected to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate—PINS—between July and
September 2025. Proposals are at the pre-application stage of the planning process under the Planning Act 2008. This stage of the planning process, including the consultation process, is developer led. The developer held a round of consultations between 24 September 2024 and 29 October 2024, details of which can be found at the following link:
https://eastparkenergy.co.uk/document-library
Once the pre-application stage is completed and the application is officially submitted, PINS has 28 days to review the application and to decide whether or not to accept it for examination. It is important to note that the panel of inspectors who will conduct the examination of the proposal, should the application be accepted by PINS, are appointed by PINS without involvement from this Department.
The Planning Inspectorate has a project page for East Park Energy where you can track the progress of the proposal and, later, register as an interested party if the project is accepted for examination:
Further information on the pre-application and examination stages of the national infrastructure planning process can be found here:
Given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in taking decisions on applications for development consent for energy infrastructure proposals, it would not be appropriate to comment on specific matters related to the proposals, as this could be seen as prejudicing the decision-making process.
In taking the decision on any application for development consent, the Secretary of State will follow the requirements of the Planning Act 2008 and have regard to matters that are relevant to her decision.