The Council passed a motion on Thursday (15 October) to oppose the plans, acknowledging the importance of renewable energy but concluding that the scale and concentration of the proposed wind farms would place an unacceptable burden on the district’s most productive agricultural land, communities, and environment.
Vattenfall is proposing two nationally significant onshore wind farms. The Chatteris Wind Farm at Mepal would feature up to 15 turbines reaching 220 metres, with a generating capacity of up to 126MW. The Redmere Wind Farm at Shippea Hill would include up to 32 turbines of the same height, with a capacity of up to 303MW. Together, these sites would cover approximately 8,352 acres, much of it Grade 1 agricultural land.
Further concerns were raised about the proximity of the Mepal proposal to the Ouse Washes, a protected site with implications for migrating birds, and the Shippea Hill proposal's closeness to RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall.
East Cambridgeshire already contributes significantly to renewable energy generation, making the largest contribution within the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority area. The district generated approximately 508,000MWh of renewable energy in 2022. The area also faces other large energy developments, including the Sunnica Energy Farm and a revised application from Kingsway Solar Farm.
The proposed wind farms would also require national grid connections at Burwell, which is already under pressure from other proposed connections, raising concerns about disruption and the need for further infrastructure across the district.
“"East Cambridgeshire supports renewable energy and is already making a substantial contribution to its generation. Our objection is not to renewable energy in principle, but to proposals of this scale being concentrated on some of the country’s most productive agricultural land, with potentially significant and long-lasting consequences for food security, the landscape, biodiversity and local communities."
Councillor Anna Bailey, who proposed the motion, stated that renewable energy schemes must protect the environment and host communities. The Council will submit evidence-based representations to Vattenfall, affected councils, ministers, and MP Charlotte Cane, and will prepare position statements on each proposal. These will cover agricultural land, food production, landscape, biodiversity, flood risk, construction, energy infrastructure, aviation, and community impacts. The final decision on both applications rests with the Secretary of State through the Development Consent Order process.
