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Plans for a 40-year solar farm are set to be approved despite concerns about a Grade II*-listed abbey and potential new sewage works nearby.
The proposal for the farm and battery energy storage at Low Fen Drove Way in Horningsea would cover about 74 hectares (183 acres) of agricultural land and could power more than 13,000 homes.
A report to South Cambridgeshire District Council’s planning committee said it would be for a “temporary 40-year operational period”, after which the site would be “restored to agricultural use”.
Councillors are recommended to approve the plan when they meet today (Wednesday).
Officers concluded that the development “would utilise grey belt land and would not fundamentally undermine the purposes of the remaining Green Belt” and that “there is a demonstrable unmet need for renewable energy, and in the context of the development, it would be in a sustainable location”.
The scheme will help towards “national and local renewable energy generation targets”, they said.
A conservation officer objected because it “would adversely affect the setting and significance” of Biggin Abbey, a listed building and former residence of the Bishops of Ely, and raised concerns about the impact on two conservation areas.
But the planning officers decided the harm caused to Biggin Abbey would be “moderate”.
Cambridge Past Present and Future, the RSPB and Quy Fen Trust have also objected to the plans.
Anglian Water has submitted a holding objection due to the proposals’ overlap with aborted plans for a new Cambridge Wastewater Treatment Works. The planned relocation of the Cambridge
Wastewater Treatment Works to Honey Hill, which is next to this application site, was withdrawn after government funding for the move was pulled in August 2025.
The relocation had been intended to free up the current site for thousands of homes under the North East Cambridge plans, with government funding previously increased to £277m before the scheme was halted.
The report explains: “It is acknowledged that there is no certainty on whether it will come forward by virtue of the current funding issues experienced by Anglian Water.”
Recommending approval, subject to conditions, officers concluded that “the harm arising from landscape change, heritage impacts and the temporary loss of agricultural land is outweighed by the substantial public benefits of the development, including renewable energy generation, contribution towards net-zero objectives, energy security and biodiversity enhancement, noting the reversibility of the scheme”.
Councillors are due to make their decision today (12 August).
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