Embedded Files
20th August
The cross area working between Sites A and B continues to increase with information being shared and many of the same actions being pursued. This is a key part of the campaign to work across all the local areas that Brockwell Energy / Castle Way Energy is proposing to develop.
18th August
Another of Brockwell Energy's proposed solar farms, at Scawby Brook in North Lincolnshire has been refused planning permission. Councillors rejected the scheme following concerns over the loss of productive agricultural land, the site's location in the open countryside, its impact on the landscape and its proximity to the highway. There is more information at :
1st August
The Planning Inspectorate (PI) published its Scoping Decision at the end of July. This directs CWE to the additional areas it must analyse in its Environmental Impact Assessment. This shows that 10 Parish Councils (along with Derbyshire County Council, South Derbyshire District Council, The Environment Agency, The Canal and River Trust, Historic England, The Forestry Commission and Natural England, amongst others) made objections, requests and representations to the PI given their concerns about the proposal. We have now linked up with the other Parish Councils to share information and to challenge this scheme collectively.
25th July
The Monument record area (MDR14236) for Barton Park has been uploaded to the Home page of the website to show how much of this heritage area is proposed for solar panel development. This record (and others that are in, or close, to Church Broughton) can be viewed at : https://her.derbyshire.gov.uk/Monument/MDR14236
24th July
John Whitby, our Derbyshire Dales, Labour MP, visited Church Broughton today. He walked the proposed site and met 60 members of our community in St Michaels' Church. We are pleased that he joined us and thank him for taking time to do this. However, he did not accept that our arguments, except possibly w.r.t. flooding, were sufficient to change his wider views that Labour's Net Zero agenda must be delivered at pace. He did not appear to believe that site specific problems or rural community considerations, like ours, should constrain Solar panel developments.
20th July
A elevated view of the solar panels close to Sudbury, just to the West of Church Broughton has been included at the end of the Home page. Its a good example of a well chosen location, which makes Castle Way Energy's proposal even more illogical and poorly conceived.
19th July
Samantha Niblett (MP for South Derbyshire) met with her constituents at Burnaston on Friday 17th July to discuss the 3 sites further East of ours. As a result of the meeting her Assistant has confirmed that she is actively seeking information from the House of Lords' library to help challenge CWE's proposal. We will be seeking the same level of support and involvement from John Whitby when he visits us on Friday 24th July.
14th July
The results of the June 2026 bat survey that the Parish Council commissioned as part of the refurbishment of the Community Centre has been uploaded to the wildlife section of the website.
12th July
Egginton Parish Council has submitted a very comprehensive response to CWE's Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Report to the Planning Inspectorate. It describes many issues with the wider proposal and a very large number of omissions and specific issues with Site E. The response from the Church Broughton PC went in a few days earlier. It too is comprehensive.
12th July
Two photos of Bridleway 1 in use for horse riding have been added.
11th July
A photo of a road accident on the bad Z bends on Ashbourne Road has been uploaded to the website. It will very much help our campaign (and our wider road safety efforts) if all accidents can be recorded on Derbyshire County Council's highways page. Email noCBSolar@gmail.com if you need guidance on how to do this.
7th July
A video of a sky lark singing over one of the fields proposed for development to the West of Barton Hall has been uploaded to the Wildlife section of the website.
6th July
Two further pictures that show the extent of the flooding that now affects our area have been added to the website.
5th July
Tim, one of our "Desktop detectives", has found an old, 1956 aerial photograph which shows the archaological remains to the North of St Michael's Church very clearly. We're going to use it to add to arguments around the significance of the heritage in that area and its connectivity to the other heritage sites at Barton Hall and estate.
2nd July
The Church Broughton Parish Council resolved to respond to the Planning Inspectorate before its 15th July 2026 deadline with a detailed critique of Castle Way Energy's proposed Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Report. This proposal is deficient in a large number of areas and will put the village, its school, the wider Parish and Barton Blount at risk of many adverse outcomes if it is not corrected.
30th June
A letter that Samanth Niblett, MP for South Derbyshire, has sent to Ed Milliband lobbying against wider solar farm developments in our region has been uploaded to the "Our Supporters" page. An email sent to Sam Redfern, DCC Councillor - Hilton Ward which seeks further clarification on his opposition and suggests actions that he could take personally and commit to publically has also been included in that section.
29th June
A 4 page information leaflet on the Solar Farm has been circulated on the Church Broughton village email system and our local WhatApp group summarising CWE's proposal and the problems it presents. We want to make sure that residents have the "balancing arguments - against" if they are joining CWE's Webinar on Thursday 2nd July. CWE will use this opportunity to market the scheme to those who join their presentation.
22nd June
An analysis of the estimated 2500 acres of "Made Ground" and "Artificial deposits" around Willington has been included in the arguments against CWE using a greenfield location in our area. It can be found towards the end of the "Home" page.
21st June
We're now well underway in drafting a response to Castle Way Energy's (CWE) 414 page Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Report. This document sets out what information CWE will and won't present to the Planning Inspectorate in due course to support its application. Unsurprisingly, CWE is trying to exclude some information that we consider to be important. We have until 15th July 2026 to submit our arguments to the Inspectorate.
20th June
We're continuing to collect all new photos and videos (and any old one that you can find) that help to show the difficulty of large HGVs using our roads, flooding problems, traffic risks around the school, rare wildlife or anything else that supports our case. Please send them in to NoCBSolar@gmail.com.
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