The bumpy ride of the proposed solar farm in Coventry continues.
The solar farm is being developed by Coventry City Council in partnership with E.ON. It is located on Lenton’s Lane in Alderman’s Green. The main part of the scheme is in Coventry but a smaller part is in Rugby borough.
The development is promoted by Coventry City Council who also own the freehold of the land, which is leased to a local farmer.
The first planning application was scheduled to be considered by Coventry City Council on 25th of January 2024. However, the decision had to be postponed at short notice due to the failure to inform objectors of the hearing.
That left the Rugby application to go ahead out of sequence, on the 7th of February, and the application was deferred and subsequently withdrawn by the applicant.
The Coventry application was then re-scheduled for consideration on 29th February 2024, only to be refused by Planning Committee on a split vote of 3 – 2, contrary to the advice of the Council’s planning officers.
This put the council in a difficult position as it could hardly appeal against its own decision.
Instead, the council revised the scheme, taking it further away from people’s houses and reducing the number of solar panels by a third.
The revised application was considered by Coventry’s Planning Committee on 18th December 2025. This time the application was approved by eight votes to one.
On 15th April this year, the revised scheme was submitted to Rugby Borough Council’s Planning Committee for consideration. This application was refused by eight votes with three abstentions. In a parallel with the first Coventry application, the decision to refuse the application was made against the recommendation of the council’s planning officers.
The stated reasons for refusal were Green Belt and loss of high-quality agricultural land.
The decision leaves the City Council in an interesting position. Does it issue an appeal against a neighbouring authority? If the appeal was won, would the council seek costs against its neighbour?
This controversy comes at an interesting time, with new government regulations due to come into place in October. These will limit the decisions that can be made by Planning Committees and committee members will have to undertake training and testing to ensure that they are fit to make proper decisions.