Residents of Burnhope, County Durham, are returning to the High Court to challenge the approval of a solar farm in fields next to our village — two years after we used the developer's published plans and our own calculations to have an earlier permission for the site quashed by the High Court.

In 2024, the High Court quashed planning permission for the scheme after residents, led by our community group, Keep It Green, identified that the development was substantially larger than its stated headline figure. Working from drawings published on the council's planning portal and the manufacturers' own panel datasheets, we calculated the true scale of the scheme. Mr Justice Fordham found that the council had failed to consider an obviously material point — whether the same energy could be produced with fewer panels over a smaller area — and quashed the permission.

The developer, Lightsource SPV 215 Limited (part of the Lightsource bp group), subsequently confirmed in its own documents the figures we had calculated. But the scheme was resubmitted and this time was approved on appeal by a planning inspector on 22 April 2026. 

It is that decision that we now challenge.

The community stresses that its fight is not against renewable energy.

“We support solar energy in the right place. I have solar panels on my garage roof. What we cannot accept is a process that overrides a community that has already been proved right once in the High Court — and a Government now trying to take away the very right that let us be heard.” — [Andrew Millross, Keep it Green steering group]

A community with everything at stake

Burnhope is a former mining community suffering with some of the poorest health in County Durham. Health evidence presented at the public inquiry — and accepted unchallenged — recorded 55% excess hypertension, four times the local rate of depression and three times the rate of osteoporosis, in a community where around 60% of households are classified in the last Census as deprived in at least one dimension.

The site at the centre of the dispute is a valued landscape that was created twenty-five ago by Planning Conditions after opencast mining and promised as compensation to the community for the years of industrial blight. National planning policy specifically identifies safe, accessible green space as a means of reducing health inequality in exactly this kind of community. Because of how Burnhope is situated this is the only safe and level accessible green space the village has left.

“We were promised this landscape back after the opencast. Now we are being asked to give it up again. It is the one safe, level, accessible place left for people here to walk — and for many, with poor health and no car, there is nowhere else to go.” — [Dr Galloway, retired GP, Burnhope resident]

The national stakes

The challenge comes as the Government moves to fast-track major energy schemes and to restrict the grounds on which communities can seek judicial review of planning decisions — the very route Burnhope used successfully in 2024. Campaigners warn that under the proposed reforms, a community in their position might never have had the chance to be heard.

“This is bigger than fourteen fields in County Durham. We exercised a basic democratic right — to ask a court whether a decision was lawful — and we won. If that right is closed off, it can happen anywhere, to anyone.” — [Kate Palmer, Keep it Green steering group]

Cross-party support

The campaign has support across the political divide. 

The Reform Durham Council refused the planning application and defended their decision at the Appeal.

Luke Akehurst, the local Member of Parliament, said: “Having pledged to residents in 2024 that I would support their case against this development, and having made formal objections at every opportunity, I remain steadfast in my commitment to protect the last remaining accessible green space in Burnhope. Residents previously took this fight to the High Court and won; it is incredibly unfair that the decision has been overturned. While I recognise the need for solar energy, I do not believe Burnhope is the right location for this type of development, and I will not support it. I have made representations to the Secretary of State and will work with Durham County Council and residents to challenge this decision.” 

Alison Gray, County Councillor, added: “From the beginning, I have backed local residents in their fight against building the solar farm at this site.  This is the only flat walking space for residents of Burnhope to access, and I believe it will impact negatively upon the health and wellbeing of the village.”

Who is Keep it Green? We are a group of over 100 residents of Burnhope who have worked tirelessly together to save our only accessible green space from industrial blight by Lightsource BP. So far we have represented our community at 2 Planning Committee hearings, a High Court Judicial Review, and a 9-day Appeal hearing where we called 7 witnesses.

What is your case? Our case is that there has been a legal error in granting the Appeal and we are asking for the permission to be quashed.

How can I help? 1. Please give! A generous donor has pledged to match fund all gifts up to £35,000. Our goal is to raise £17,500. When we have reached that we will need to raise another £15,000. 2. Please volunteer! If you have time and skills that could be useful please email.

What are you trying to achieve? Justice. This land has only recently been restored. It was promised to a vulnerable community who had been ravaged by industrial blight. It is our only accessible safe and level green space for walking, horse riding and engaging in nature. Curlews, skylarks, and lapwings all breed on the site. We want to keep it green so we can help the community recover from the health inequalities that are so prevalent.

What is the next step in the case? The Government, Lightsource BP, and Durham Councill all have until 24 June to respond. A Judge will then read the papers and decide whether we will be granted a hearing.

How much we are raising and why? We are raising funds for our legal costs. Our solicitor is Susan Ring (https://www.grsolicitors.co.uk/about-us/our-team/susan-ring/) and our barrister is Richard Harwood (https://www.39essex.com/profile/richard-harwood-obe-kc/). A generous donor has pledged to match fund all gifts up to £35,000. Our goal is to raise £17,500. When we have reached that we will need to raise another £15,000. 

Thank you!