IN response to questions and concerns about its solar farm plans, Lymm Community Energy (LCE) has produced answers to a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) which are based on responses to Warrington Borough Council’s planning consultation and LCE’s recent information events.
The FAQs, together with solar farm update information, can be viewed by scanning the QR code or by visiting: www.linktr.ee/lymmcommunityenergym 
Key questions area concerned with the visibility of the solar panels, access to the site for construction and maintenance purposes and installation on green belt land. “As a local community organisation, we take any concerns very seriously and are looking at ways in which we can mitigate any negative impacts”, says Richard Pearce, Director of Lymm Community Energy.
“However, it is important to stress that the solar farm will bring significant benefits in terms of reducing CO2e emissions, improving the biodiversity of the site, supplying local customers and investing any surpluses into community projects via LCE’s Community Benefit Fund. Whilst the solar farm is in operation, the site will still be available for agricultural purposes and it will not result in any long-term loss of green belt land since it will be returned to its former state when the solar farm is decommissioned”.
LCE submitted its planning application to the Council earlier this year for a 2.5MW solar farm, and the associated ancillary infrastructure, on land owned by Wildersmoor Hall Farm, Whiteleggs Lane, Lymm. Details can be seen by visiting the Council’s Planning Portal using the reference 2024/00087/FULM.
For anyone unfamiliar with LCE, the organisation was created in 2014 and is a not-for-profit Community Benefit Society established to enable local people to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency installations. Notable achievements include putting solar panels on the roofs of the four Lymm village primary schools in 2015 /16. The installations have been generating an average of 92,000 kWh of clean electricity a year enough to power 32 homes, cutting CO2e emissions by 183 tonnes, since the start, and saving the schools £thousands a year on their energy bills.
LCE is staffed wholly by volunteers and has raised £184K through two community share offers in the summers of 2015 and 2016;
The money raised has been used to install solar systems on all four primary schools in Lymm – total capacity of 126kWp (476 panels);
70 people, mainly from Lymm and the surrounding area, originally invested in LCE. Some of these people have invested on behalf of their children and grandchildren who will become members when they reach the age of 16;
LCE pays interest to its shareholders and any surpluses, after operating costs, are transferred to a separate community benefit fund to help finance environmental projects in Lymm and the surrounding area.
For more information contact LCE at: [email protected]
Website: www.lymmcommunityenergy.org.uk
