Official challenge to Torbay solar farm project

Opponents of a plan to get South West Water to build a solar farm in Torbay have mounted an official challenge.

The Conservative cabinet committee recently decided the council should not build the solar farm at Brokenbury itself, lacking the know-how and the time to do it properly. Instead, the cabinet voted unanimously to get South West Water (SWW) to do the job.

But Liberal Democrat group leader Swithin Long (Barton with Watcombe) said getting SWW to do the work would result in a worse financial deal for Torbay and no benefit for the community.

Now he and four other opposition councillors have signed a motion for the matter to be ‘called in’ to be looked at afresh by the council’s overview and scrutiny committee.

The call-in documents demand fully detailed business cases for both council and SWW options, and call on the cabinet to reconsider its decision to forego a community dividend for the Brokenbury solar farm when there would be one from a similar project at Nightingale Park in Torquay.

The challengers want details of the income and expenditure for the project over the next 30 years, along with more details about why the cabinet feels the council should not build it.

The council decided last June to build the project and then sell the electricity to SWW, but is now likely to change its mind and hand the responsibility to the water company while collecting rent in return instead.

Deputy council leader Chris Lewis (Con, Preston) told the cabinet meeting that the authority’s track record on delivering its own projects was not good, and it would be better to leave it to others.

The Pennon Group, the parent company of SWW, is likely to lease the land from the council, build the solar farm itself and be responsible for its upkeep.

The council will recover the money it has spent getting planning permission for the project straight away, and will then get an income from renting the land out to Pennon for up to 40 years.

Cllr Lewis added: “We are here to bring in the private sector to deliver, and that’s what the good people of Torbay want.”

The overview and scrutiny committee meets on 7 May. The matter will go before the full council for a final decision on 15 May.