• Planning Statement
• Design and Access Statement 
• Statement of Community Involvement
• Site Alternatives Study

Technical Reports

• Agricultural Land Classification
• Agricultural Impact Assessment
• Arboricultural Impact Assessment
• Arboricultural Method Statement
• Acoustic Impact Assessment
• Construction Traffic Management Plan
• Ecological Appraisal Report
• Flood Risk Assessment and Surface Water Drainage Strategy
• Glint and Glare Assessment
• Heritage Statement - Part 1
• Heritage Statement - Part 2
• Heritage Statement - Part 3
• Landscape and Visual Assessment (LVA)
• LVA Appendix 1
• LVA Appendix 2
• LVA Appendix 3
• LVA Appendix 4a
• LVA Appendix 4b
• LVA Appendix 5
• LVA Appendix 6
• LVA Appendix 7 (LEMP)
• LVA Appendix 8
• LVA Appendix 9

Figures:

• Figure 1 -  Site Location Plan 
• Figure 2 - Site Location Map
• Figure 3 - Field Numbers
• Figure 4 - Infrastructure Layout (A3) 
• Figure 5 - Infrastructure Layout Enlargements (A1) 
• Figure 6 - Typical Access Track Detail 
• Figure 7 - Typical Temporary Construction Compound Layout 
• Figure 8 - Typical PV Module and Rack details 
• Figure 9 - Typical Security Fence Detail (around electrical compound) 
• Figure 10 - Typical Perimeter Deer Fence (around whole farm) 
• Figure 11 - Typical Security Lighting and CCTV
• Figure 12 - Typical Inverter and Storage Layout 
• Figure 13 - Typical Inverter Substation
• Figure 14 - Typical Battery Storage Enclosure
• Figure 15 - Typical DC-DC Converter
• Figure 16 - Substation Compound
• Figure 17 - Gas Pipe Protection Slab
• Figure 18 - Indicative Grid Connection Route 

Hard copies of some planning documents are available on request. Please contact us for more information.

Reasons to Support the Chimmens Solar Farm Proposal

The UK Government’s Energy Security Plan, published in March 2023, states “Energy security necessarily entails the smooth transition to abundant, low-carbon energy. If we do not decarbonise, we will be less energy secure” Furthermore, it calls for energy to be “cheap, clean and British”. The government has also established a solar government-industry taskforce and have committed to publishing a solar roadmap setting out a clear step by step deployment trajectory to achieve 70GW of solar by 2035. The report recognises that ground-mounted solar is one of the cheapest forms of electricity generation and is readily deployable at scale. 

Our current power system still relies heavily on fossil fuels, such as gas. The volatile price of these is the reason that bills have increased so rapidly in recent months. The need to rapidly scale up home grown energy has become even more urgent.   

Solar is a free and inexhaustible resource which has an important role to play as part of a balanced energy mix. Large scale solar, alongside other renewable technologies, is now the cheapest source of electricity generation³ making solar development not only beneficial for the environment but also for bill payers. If consented, Chimmens Solar Farm would be capable of producing clean, green electricity for approximately 22,500⁴ homes every year. 

Chimmens Solar Farm, if consented, could deliver new landscape and ecological measures and an overall Biodiversity Net Gain of 45% net gain in area habitats and 39% net gain in hedgerow habitats.   All of these new habitats will provide significant improvements for all species in the local area.

Chimmens Solar Farm has been designed to integrate into the surrounding area as appropriately as possible and the results of a Landscape and Visual Assessment (LVA) were used alongside topographical surveys results to inform this design. Due to the temporary nature of the project, there will not be a long-term loss of greenbelt and the land can be returned to agricultural practices at the end of the solar project. There are strong local and national policies demonstrating the need for renewable energy projects in order to tackle climate change and meet the government’s targets for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Chimmens Solar Farm proposal aligns with these policies and the benefits of the renewable energy generated by the project would be realised locally and nationally.  

The solar farm could deliver direct benefit to the area  - generating jobs during construction and decommissioning.  Inward investment can be significant as a range of services will be required including haulage, on-site welfare facilities, refuse and recycling facilities, transport and local accommodation for construction workers.  Furthermore, if consented, Chimmens Solar Farm would pay business rates annually, directly to Sevenoaks District Council, for the life of the project, helping to fund vital services for all local residents. 

If, having read the above, you would like to support the Chimmens Solar Farm proposal, you can do so by submitting a representation online via the Sevenoaks District Council’s website.  The planning reference is 23/03181/FUL and should be included in all correspondence. 

A statutory consultation period will be advertised and held by Sevenoaks District Council to enable the public, as well as statutory consultees, to submit their comments on the proposal.  The closing date for comments is 18th January 2024 which takes into account the bank holidays over the Christmas period.  These comments will then be assessed against the proposal and a determination made in due course. 

^{1 https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CCC-Accelerated-Electrification-Vivid-Economics-Imperial-1.pdf} 

^{2 https://solarenergyuk.org/resource/lighting-the-way-making-net-zero-a-reality-with-solar-energy/} 

^{3 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6556027d046ed400148b99fe/electricity-generation-costs-2023.pdf} 

^{4 The homes figure has been calculated by taking the predicted average annual electricity generation of the site and dividing this by the annual average electricity figures from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) showing that the annual UK average domestic household consumption is 3,509 kWh (Dec 2022).}