North Yorkshire Council’s planning officers have made the recommendation ahead of the authority’s strategic planning committee on Tuesday considering Anthony Brindle’s application to create a “temporary” 49.9MW photo-voltaic array for up to 50 years on a 94-hectare site at Pilmoor, between Thirsk and Easingwold. The meeting comes just weeks after Andrew Bowie, Under Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, saying the concentration of solar projects in specific areas was “concerning”.
The combined built up areas of Raskelf and Easingwold is only about 180 hectares so these solar farms will be taking up more land use than these two settlements. “This concentration of development and its uneven distribution is just wrong and an unacceptable impact for our local community.