Football club submits application for solar park

A football club has submitted an application for a solar park.

If approved, it will be built on a 48-hectare (118-acre) site to the east and west of Sunderland AFC’s training centre near Cleadon Village, South Tyneside.

The plans include an electrical substation, transformer stations, switch rooms, security fencing, access gates and biodiversity improvements such as hedgerow improvement.

In a statement, it said the application was a step “towards becoming one of the first net zero clubs in the UK”.

Documents submitted to South Tyneside Council state that planning permission is being sought for a “period of 30 years from the date of the first export of energy from the solar farm”. After this period, “the site will be converted back to agricultural land”, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The application also stated that the solar farm would make a “valuable contribution to tackling the effects of climate change” and had “the potential to provide clean energy to up to 9,700 average-sized homes in South Tyneside and offset the carbon emissions of around 3,700 residents”.

The proposals included a “community benefits package” totalling £15,000 per year over the life of the solar farm, to be invested entirely in South Tyneside charities.

While the application acknowledges “damage to the green belt”, it adds that “there are no alternative sites in South Tyneside that could offer the same capacity in terms of generating renewable energy from solar power”.

A decision on the planning application is expected after the council’s consultation phase has been completed.

Follow BBC North East on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook And InstagramSend your story ideas to [email protected].

More stories from BBC North East and Cumbria

Further Internet links