An MP has hit out at plans to build the UK's largest solar farm on the west Suffolk border after they were delayed until December. 

The proposed Sunnica Energy Farm would see the 2,500-acre development built across the border between east Cambridgeshire and west Suffolk, including in Mildenhall, West Row, Freckenham and Worlington.

The application by Sunnica Limited was due to be decided by next Thursday but, this week, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero set a new decision deadline of December 7.

East Anglian Daily Times: A decision was due to be made on September 28 but this has now been postponed to December 7A decision was due to be made on September 28 but this has now been postponed to December 7 (Image: Newsquest)

West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock, who has opposed the plans since the beginning, said delaying the plans is not enough.

"This decision shouldn't have been delayed - it should have been rejected, and the huge worry for local residents finally put to rest," he said.

"The development is too big, the scale is too vast and it's in completely the wrong location. It will turn our beautiful Suffolk villages into industrial zones.

"Sunnica's current proposal is not only dangerous but it's undermining support for renewables, and it needs to go back to the drawing board."

East Anglian Daily Times: MP Matt Hancock has hit out at the plans and said they should be refusedMP Matt Hancock has hit out at the plans and said they should be refused (Image: Sarah Lucy Brown, Newsquest)

But in March, Suffolk County Council along with other local authorities put together a report on what it considered "serious shortcomings" with the plans.

The report was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

Areas of concern for the councils include the geographic scale of the proposal which will "permanently transform the landscape" and the impact on local communities during the 24-month construction period.

East Anglian Daily Times: Say No to Sunnica protest, led by Matt Hancock and Lucy Frazer, in 2022Say No to Sunnica protest, led by Matt Hancock and Lucy Frazer, in 2022 (Image: Autumn Scott/Say No to Sunnica)

Last year, a 'Say No to Sunnica' protest led by Matt Hancock and Lucy Frazer, MP for South East Cambridgeshire, saw about 200 people march from Mildenhall to the site of part of the proposed solar farm.

Fiona Cairns, director of the Suffolk Preservation Society, said: "This delay by the Government will only add to the anxieties of affected communities.

"While the Society supports appropriately located and scaled solar schemes, we believe that Sunnica is an environmentally damaging proposal and needs to be rejected once and for all."

A spokesman for Sunnica said: "The UK needs to double the amount of renewable energy it generates by 2050.

"Sunnica would make a significant contribution to this goal. We will continue to work with the Secretary of State to provide them with any information they require to determine our DCO application."