Public Consultation Event
We held a public consultation event on Friday 21st April where staff and material were available to interested parties to drop in and gather further information on the proposal. Click below to view the exhibition boards.
We held a public consultation event on Friday 21st April where staff and material were available to interested parties to drop in and gather further information on the proposal. Click below to view the exhibition boards.
WON’T THIS AFFECT AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION BY TAKING LAND OUT OF PRODUCTIVE USE TO SUPPLY FOOD?
The land at Wold Farm is classified as agricultural land grade 3, which is not the most productive agricultural land. The amount of land that will be developed for the Energy Park represents a very small amount of land that would no longer be available for food production.
WHAT EMPLOYMENT USES WILL BE LOCATED HERE?
It is proposed that the Energy Park will provide flexibility for a mixture of employment uses including small stand-alone offices, research and development, manufacturing and other industrial uses as well as logistics and storage operations. The Energy Park will target businesses that have a high energy demand who would benefit most from the on-site renewable energy. No specific users have yet been identified, so flexibility is needed to ensure that demand for these various uses can be met. A criteria for appropriate uses to be developed at the park will be included within the Masterplan document
WHY IS THE ENERGY PARK LOCATED HERE?
The Energy Park is located here to make best use of the available energy infrastructure at the site including the existing wind turbines, the consented solar farms and the 132kv grid connection that can be made to the power lines that already cross the site.
HOW MUCH LAND IS COVERED BY THE ENERGY PARK?
The masterplan area of search covers some 460 Ha, part of this will be used to accommodate the employment development, with the masterplan boundary also including the existing wind turbines, consented solar farms, biodiversity net gain receptor site, and areas for potential hydroponics. The remaining land within this area will be retained for agricultural use as part of the existing farming operations.
HOW BIG WILL THE EMPLOYMENT UNITS BE?
The final form of development is not yet known and will be subject to demand from businesses. The site will have the flexibility to accommodate different sized premises for a variety of uses. Issues such as landscape and screening will be based on the provision of larger units to ensure that appropriate planting and screening is provided, for example.
HOW WILL TRAFFIC BE PREVENTED FROM TRAVELLING TO FINEDON AND BURTON LATIMER?
It is anticipated that the majority of traffic, particularly HGV’s, will travel to and from the site from Junction 11 of the A14. However, some traffic will travel through Finedon and access the site from the south. To promote use of Junction 11 of the A14, management measures will be put in place to help reduce traffic routing through Finedon. These measures will include preparation of a Travel Plan and a Delivery and Service Routing Plan that occupiers will need to sign up to. Access will be provided to Burton Latimer along Wold Road for cyclists, pedestrians and emergency vehicles, this will not form a main point of vehicular access to the Energy Park.
HOW WILL TRAFFIC ACCESS THE M1?
Traffic travelling north via the M1 will access the site via the A14 travelling west. Traffic wishing to travel south will be directed to use the A1(M) and M11, which are accessed via the A14 travelling east
WILL HGV TRAFFIC BE ALLOWED TO USE THE A6?
HGV traffic will be directed away from using the A6.
WHAT JUNCTION IMPROVEMENTS WILL BE NEEDED?
The new site access onto the A510 is proposed to be formed using a roundabout junction. Discussions with National Highways and the Highway Authority are still progressing, supported by traffic modelling. The requirement for any additional infrastructure will be identified following these discussions.
WHAT INFRASTRUCTURE IS NEEDED?
New infrastructure will be needed on-site to support the development, including:
Requirements for any off-site infrastructure will be discussed and agreed with key stakeholders such as the Highway Authority.
WHAT ARE HYDROPONICS?
Hydroponics are a type of horticulture that involves growing plants, usually crops, without soil but in a water based mineral rich medium. The hydroponics are enclosed in a greenhouse or some form of building and there are benefits in this system including:
To make systems such as hydroponics more viable, a stable and plentiful supply of energy and sometimes heat is needed to provide the controlled environment for growing within the building. This makes such a use a good fit for the Energy Park as it will make use of the low carbon energy sources provided at the site and allow for greater food security and reduce food miles as such systems have a longer growing season and can provide foods that would otherwise be imported into the UK.
WILL THE ENERGY PARK CONNECT TO THE HANWOOD PARK DEVELOPMENT OR OTHER HOUSING PROPOSALS?
The Energy Park will not have a direct link to the Hanwood Park development or other housing proposals as the distance between the sites was considered to be too great to effect any significant benefits. The provision of a heat network was also considered, but again due to the distance between the different sites, and uncertainty about the heat demand/profile of occupiers at the Energy Park, it was concluded that this was not a viable proposition. The Energy Park site will, however, benefit from a direct grid connection so that excess energy not used by the employment uses on the site can be fed back into the Grid to service other uses. The provision of other energy technology, such as battery storage, can also provide greater resilience to the UK energy Grid by storing energy in times of excess supply and feeding this back into the Grid when there is demand to help balance supply.
WILL THE EXPECTED NUMBERS OF JOBS BE CREATED, ISN’T EVERYTHING AUTOMATED AND USE ROBOTS?
The number of jobs anticipated at the site is based on assumed job density based on established research of various operations. A robust position has been taken to estimate jobs created. If some uses may have high levels of automation or benefit from some robotic assistance, these generally assist with productivity and so help operations to be more efficient rather than reduce the number of employees on site. Such uses also generate a requirement for high skilled workers in the design, operation and ongoing maintenance and repair of systems, so the jobs supported are not just low skilled positions but high value and skilled roles.
WILL THE DEVELOPMENT JUST BE LARGE WAREHOUSES WITH LOW SKILLED ZERO HOURS CONTRACTS/TEMPORARY JOBS?
The development has the flexibility to accommodate a wide range of business types at the site. Whilst there is likely to be demand for larger warehouses, the exact occupier profile of the development is not yet known. To ensure that the site is not simply about warehousing and logistics, a proportion of the floorspace provided at the site will be reserved for other uses across Research and Development and Manufacturing with uses associated with the transition to a low carbon development promoted at the site.
WHAT ABOUT THE EXISTING FARM?
Some of the land at Wold Farm will of course be developed to provide the Energy Park but the land that is not part of this development will be retained as part of the farm and continue to be in agricultural use.
WHEN WILL CONSTRUCTION START?
Construction will start following the grant of any planning permission. It is anticipated that an application will be submitted in 2023, so the earliest that construction could start is likely to be 2024.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WIND FARM INCLUDED A COMMUNITY FUND FOR BURTON LATIMER THAT SUPPORTED COMMUNITY INITIATIVES. WILL THIS DEVELOPMENT INCLUDE A FUND THAT IS ACCESSIBLE TO OTHER PARTS OF THE COMMUNITY NEAR THE ENERGY PARK SITE?
Opportunities are being explored to see if a similar type of Community Fund that extends to areas near the Energy Park site could be established. Any proposal would need careful consideration to ensure that it is fit for purpose and that a suitable mechanism for such a scheme can be formulated.
WILL ADDITIONAL PUBLIC WALKING ROUTES BE PROVIDED AS PART OF THE ENERGY PARK PROPOSALS?
There is an existing public footpath and a bridleway within the area of search so these routes will need to be retained/re-aligned as part of any proposed development. Opportunities for the provision of additional publicly accessible routes are being explored, however this will need to be considered in conjunction with the security needs of new businesses and the ongoing farming activities at the site.
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