Planning permission has been granted for a solar farm in a remote Essex parish despite concerns regarding its impact on largely undeveloped countryside.

At a meeting on March 12, Maldon District Councillors debated the application for a 19-megawatt solar farm on land south of Keelings Road, Dengie.

A speaker for the applicant, BSR Energy, said the proposal represented "an exciting project that will produce a significant amount of sustainable energy". The solar farm would produce enough electricity to power approximately 4,751 homes, and offset an estimated 4,208 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually over the site's planned 40-year life span before eventually being decommissioned.

Although a previous iteration of the application had planning permission refused due to its location having a medium to high probability of flooding and its potential to alter the character of the area, mitigations such as additional surface water drainage and the creation of a £19,000 community benefit fund in conjunction with the Essex Community Foundation for local projects saw the proposal recommended for approval.

There are five Grade II listed buildings to the north of the site, including St James' Church, although the planning officer's report considered the proposed solar farm would pose a "negligible degree of less than substantial harm" to the asset, with public benefits of the scheme "sufficient to outweigh the harm the development would cause".

Despite Councillor Adrian Fluker (Independent, Southminster) imploring fellow committee members to refuse the proposal "regardless of the applicant's well-meaning attempt to mitigate the impact", and deputy leader Councillor Mark Bassenger (Maldon Independent Group, Althorne) asking colleagues "to consider what we have and what we're going to lose" if the "yin-yang" scheme was accepted, the application was approved by a strong majority vote in its favour.

Councillor Simon Morgan (Con., Wickham Bishops and Woodham) said: "I'm confused by the collective attitude of this council towards solar farms.

"Solar panels are not particularly attractive, but they are not designed to be so; they're designed to provide a form of sustainable energy we so desperately need."

Cllr Morgan also referred to Turncole and Middlewick wind farms in Southminster and the Dengie Peninsula respectively, which leader Councillor Richard Siddall (Maldon Independent Group, Great Totham) said had a much greater visual impact on the landscape.