Statement on Sunnica Solar Farm
22 Aug 2024
Councillor Cliff Waterman, Leader of West Suffolk Council, said:
This potential legal challenge was never about whether Sunnica would go ahead or not. It was a technical matter relating to the fees local planning authorities would receive for managing the planning process.
The government and applicant did not accept our initial request to amend the fees and the legal advice we had was that, while there was a chance of success in a costly judicial review, the end result could well be the same. This is because the government would then have the option to redetermine the application using the same lower level of fees which, in its response to our legal letter, it has already told us it believes are appropriate for schemes of this nature.
These fees are an important point of law. But after careful consideration, following legal advice and given that there are other ways to raise our concerns with the government as well as seek financial support from the applicant, West Suffolk Council has decided it will not take part in any further legal proceedings on this matter.
If other councils feel that the application or its fees should be challenged through the courts, then there is still nothing to stop them from doing this, using their own funds. For our part, we do not believe this is a good use of scarce taxpayers’ money.
West Suffolk Council will concentrate on working within our powers to make sure the development is managed to the best of our ability for our communities.
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