Suffolk County Council has written to the UK government criticizing the decision to approve planning permission for a 500MW solar and storage project on the border of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Councilors have sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero, Ed Miliband. This marks the first step in possible legal proceedings against the project, which will be developed by Sunnica.
The council states that the Minister of Foreign Affairs did not take into account the financing arguments he had put forward at the time of the application. They argue that the local government will have to take on significant amounts of additional work at significant cost and claim that the amount Sunnica must reimburse the municipality is not sufficient to cover the municipality’s expenditure on the project.
Councilor Richard Rout, Suffolk County Council’s deputy cabinet member for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), expressed his anger at the Secretary of State, calling Miliband’s choice to approve the project “a terrible start to his term”.
Rout continued: “[Miliband] has shown little respect for the affected communities and for local authorities, who will have to take on significant amounts of additional work as a result of the project’s progress.
“One of the crucial things he has ignored is the insufficient amount that Sunnica has proposed to compensate local authorities for dealing with conditions attached to the application. This is an embarrassing, clumsy and completely avoidable mistake by the Secretary of State. That is why we are taking legal action.”
A bumpy ride for Sunnica
This threat of legal action marks the latest in what has been a long and difficult process for the development of the Sunnica Energy Farm.
Approval for the farm, which is large enough to be classified as an NSIP, was postponed four times by then-Foreign Minister Claire Coutinho, with approval initially due to be granted in September 2023.
The project was ultimately approved following the July 2024 UK general election and the subsequent appointment of Ed Miliband as Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero, one of three solar NSIPs approved on the same day, less than two weeks after Miliband took office.
The speed at which the decision was made following Miliband’s appointment is one of the main points of contention for councilor Richard Rout, who noted:[Miliband] had only been in office for a few days before approving a number of energy projects – it would have been impossible for him to fully review the Sunnica application and see how flawed it was.”
Rout argues that Miliband has failed to reflect on how local governments are struggling with financial resources as the cost of living crisis increases demand for council assistance. He concludes: “With one quick stroke of the pen we can [Miliband] has set a dangerous precedent and sidelined the voices of thousands of concerned residents, leaving their community with an uncertain future and our council receiving woefully inadequate compensation for the work ahead.”
