Say No to Sunnica launches fundraiser as anger grows

Say No to Sunnica have announced that they are taking action against the Sunnica solar and battery farm after the new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, green-lit the plan.

The farm is set to be built across four sites which will be connected underground - one near Mildenhall and West Row, another near Freckenham and Worlington and then on two other sites in East Cambridgeshire, close to Newmarket.

Say No to Sunnica members protesting (Image: Newsquest)

Earlier this month, Suffolk County Council announced it was also taking action against the approval and wrote to Mr Miliband directly. 

Say No to Sunnica has now taken its first steps towards a potential judicial review, having issued a Pre-Application Protocol letter to challenge what they have described as "a specific legal error."

The group has launched a CrowdJustice page to raise funds to support the action.

The page has so far over £4,000 has been pledged, with a goal of £12,000 in the next 29 days.

It reads: "We are taking action to protect our food security, our wildlife, our rare and protected species, our heritage sites and local economies, including the internationally famous horseracing and breeding industry in Newmarket."

It states that help is needed to fund the potential judicial review into the decision to grant permission for the site.

It continues: "Our first 30-day target £12,000 will ensure we can submit legal papers in a timely way, but we intend, with your support, to continue this fight." 

Nick Timothy, MP for West Suffolk (Image: Newsquest)

Resident Isabel Cross said she feels the process has been 'unfair'. 

"We’ve spent five years scrutinising this poor-quality scheme, evidencing the damage it would cause to wildlife habitats for rare and protected species, to our heritage sites and the threat to the UK's food security in taking away about 2500 acres of top-quality, irrigated food producing land," she said.

"We took part in a rigorous six-month examination process and were pleased that the impartial examiners agreed that the harm was too significant and that the scheme should not go ahead.

"Yet after just a few days in office it seems that a political decision has been taken to overrule their expert advice. I feel that this undermines the credibility of our planning system, and this needs to be challenged." 

Dr Catherine Judkins, chair of the Say No to Sunnica Community Action group, said: “Solar targets do not have to be delivered this way – other countries are delivering solar more sustainably, prioritising rooftops and car parks.

"In Italy they’ve even banned solar on farmland, recognising the need to protect food security.

"The UK has no strategic plan for solar – it’s just a ‘wild west’ right now, and typically with lucrative profits going to a few already wealthy people." 

Nick Timothy, MP for West Suffolk, said: "I wholeheartedly back the challenge launched by the Say No To Sunnica campaign.

"As we have said all along, this is the wrong project in the wrong place, and it is a disgrace that Ed Miliband approved it without having due regard to all the evidence and without following due process."

Sunnica and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero have been approached for comment.