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Aura Power has secured planning permission for a solar farm proposal north of Whimple in East Devon with a capacity of 49.9MW. Horton Solar Farm will be built without subsidy and would generate enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of around 12,000 homes, saving around 11,500 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year.
East Devon Council has declared a climate emergency with a target to become carbon neutral by 2040. Horton Solar Farm can help in reaching this commendable ambition.
Solar Farms not only increase the supply of clean power but as solar is the lowest cost form of new energy generation it will also help to reduce national power prices.
It offers a number of benefits locally with increased biodiversity proposals and a community benefit fund of £400 per MW per year (index-linked), for the lifetime of the solar farm. This could amount to over £20,000 a year for 40 years or nearly £800,000 in total, used locally for social and environmental projects. We are also offering educational sessions with local schools and site visits to the solar farm.
As a local business, our solar farm will be contributing around £100,000 in business rates to East Devon District Council every year.
The site is due to start construction in the spring of 2026.
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October 2025 - We have been progressing work to prepare the site for construction, which we now expect to commence in April 2026. In advance of this, we will be undertaking access improvement works to facilitate construction activity, scheduled to begin in January 2026. There will be minor traffic management in place to minimise disruption.
Local residents will be notified by letter with details of the construction programme and a dedicated contact line ahead of construction commencing.
Public Consultation. We held two public consultation events, online and in-person, to understand local feedback.
Design Finalised and Planning App Submitted.
Planning permission granted.
Anticipated construction commencement - the local community will be notified as soon as construction dates are confirmed.
Estimated figure is calculated using BEIS ‘Sub-national electricity consumption statistics 2019’ (latest publish Dec 2020) which reports an average domestic consumption per East Devon Household of 4089 kwh
Estimated figure calculated using the UK Government Gas Conversion Factor, BEIS, July 2021 of 0.2133 Tonnes Carbon/MWh. NV Calculations based on the PV Syst generation report for the proposed layout
Estimated figure calculated using an average mileage of 9435 miles per year (MOT data from RAC Foundation) and an average power consumption of 2,887 kWh (Electric Vehicle Database 2021)
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Local community feedback has played a big role in the evolution of our site design and we are grateful to those who engaged with us.
Community engagement is ongoing and we are open to speaking to any local residents and Councillors at any time.
We will notify the local community when we have firmer plans for construction.
This webinar was presented to the local community and interested parties regarding Horton Solar Farm. The presentation was delivered by Aura Power and followed by a Q&A session. Viewers are invited to submit their questions to chloe.hood@aurapower.com
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Several environmental and visual surveys have been undertaken to inform our design along with valuable feedback from the local community. The site has been selected due to it's proximity to an available grid connection and its limited visual impact. The project offers several ecological and local benefits, along with continued agricultural use, with sheep being able to graze beneath the panels.
New landscaping includes:
These landscaping proposals have been calculated to deliver a 21.65% net gain for habitats and 44.75% for hedgerows, supporting East Devon’s Nature Recover Strategy and Biodiversity Emergency.
We have worked to design the solar farm appropriately and as sensitively as possible to the surroundings, whilst maximising the generation of clean energy.
Site location shown on the image to the left – click to enlarge.
Construction Traffic
Construction traffic is proposed to enter the site from the road immediately to the south of the site, having travelled from the A30, via Fairmile and Newtown. Construction is expected to take place over a 4-6 month period with minimal vehicles travelling to the site once in operation.
We will be undertaking access improvement works to facilitate construction activity, scheduled to begin in January 2026. Two of the access points will be located on the road between Newtown and Whimple, on the southern boundary of the site, and a third will be located in Clyst St Lawrence, providing access to the grid connection works.
We do not anticipate any road closures to facilitate these works. However, there will be minor traffic management measures in place to ensure safety and minimise disruption to road users. We will be able to provide more details on this following a Section 171 licence approval from Highways.
Your feedback is very important to us. Please leave a comment and one of our project team will get back to you as soon as possible.
30 Queen Square
Penthouse Office
Bristol BS1 4ND
+44 (0) 117 214 1982
Designed by The SourdoughPenthouse Office
30 Queen Square
Bristol BS1 4ND
+44 (0) 117 214 1982