Project Updates

Following recent consultations, the Project Team has been carefully reviewing feedback from the local community and stakeholders. This feedback is helping to inform ongoing design development, and we will provide a further update on this in due course.

The site has been carefully selected and will deliver both clean renewable energy and meaningful environmental and recreational benefits. We will be delivering significant landscape and wildlife enhancements, strengthening connectivity for wildlife between the existing isolated spinneys around the site and re-establishing former woodland areas. These planting proposals were welcomed locally as part of our public consultation in November 2025, and as requested we are also exploring improvements to footpath connectivity, the provision of small parking areas for walkers and reactivating the use of the outdoor classroom facility in Berry Covert woods.

We would like to clarify that no planning application has been submitted at this stage. We are targeting submission of the application in September 2026.

As part of the necessary environmental assessment and design process that inform the future planning application, we will be undertaking trial trenching works on the Site to provide more information to us on the type of archaeology that could be present. It is an exciting opportunity to gain a valuable insight into the history of this landscape as shaped by the earliest settlers to present day.

Trial trenching is a standard archaeological survey technique used to better understand ground conditions and identify any potential archaeological features. It involves excavating a small sample of the Site, typically around 2-5% of the total area, through a series of temporary trenches. These trenches are usually 25-50 metres in length and up to around 1.8 metreswide, although this can vary depending on site conditions and prior survey information [1].

All works will be temporary in nature. Trenches will be backfilled, and the land will be fully reinstated following completion. The works will not result in any lasting change to the ecology or environmental condition of the site, and farming will resume on the restored land.

These works are currently scheduled to take place on the 13th to the 18th of April 2026, with 22 trenches to be completed across the site. The findings of the trenching will be reported in the submitted planning application and will form part of a robust package of heritage evidence.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch via the project email address: Contact@cuckohillsolar.co.uk