We are delighted to announce that planning approval has been granted for a 19 WM solar farm plus 5 MW of battery storage on 33 hectares of land near the village of Dengie, Essex. After an initial refusal in 2023 due to concerns over flooding and landscape character, the proposals were amended and subsequently approved by an overwhelming majority. The solar farm will provide enough energy to power approximately 4,751 homes each year.
The Landmark Practice worked with the design team from inception, providing an initial landscape mitigation strategy to inform the scheme followed by a Landscape and Visual Appraisal and detailed landscape proposals. Our graphics team also supported the project by providing Type 3 visualisations of the proposals.
The site is located in the Dengie Marshes, a rural and remote landscape on the east coast of the county dominated by large scale wind farms. The topography of the area afforded great potential to incorporate the solar farm with minimal visual impact, with few opportunities to see the site from the low-lying areas. It also ensured that changes in landscape character from the introduction of solar into an undeveloped landscape were contained and minimised.
There was a lot of potential for landscape and ecological enhancement opportunities, from the reinstatement of historic hedgerows and field patterns, to creating new green infrastructure links across the site. The scheme will results in a Habitat Net Gain of 247% and Hedgerow Net Gain of 17.71%, well above the required minimum Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) of 10% required by new developments.
Another great project delivered alongside the BSR team in collaboration with ADAS planning.