Trelion Tenant Farmers Face Eviction as Cornwall’s Biggest Solar Farm Decision Looms

A fourth-generation family farm on the edge of clay country could be wiped off the map this Thursday, replaced by 200 acres of black glass owned by a French multinational. Cornwall Council’s strategic planning committee meets at 10am on Thursday 21st May to decide whether EDF Renewables can turn Penhale Farm at Trelion into what would become the largest solar farm in the county.

What’s being proposed

EDF Renewables wants to build a 49.9MW solar array across 82.5 hectares (almost 204 acres) of agricultural land at Trelion, near St Stephen. The development would run for 40 years and, according to the applicant, generate enough renewable energy to match the average annual consumption of 9,500 homes while saving around 21,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.

If approved, the scheme would edge out Fair Park in the Hendra valley near Mitchell, currently Cornwall’s largest at around 80 hectares, to take the top spot. Fair Park was refused by Cornwall Council in November 2024 and approved on appeal last October, with the Carland Action Group still fighting on at a further hearing in September.

Council planning officers have recommended approval at Trelion, with 12 pages of conditions attached. The application sits on the agenda for Thursday 21st May at New County Hall.

The campaigners

Stop Trelion Solar Farm, the residents’ group formed to oppose the application, will hold a demonstration outside the meeting from 9am.

“French multinational company EDF are applying to turn the 200 acre family farm, Penhale, at Trelion, St Austell into a solar park,” said Rose Barnecut of the campaign. “The 4th generation tenants will be evicted, all the local business they generate will be lost and the profits will go to France. This is a solar gold rush and our area is being asked to pay most of the costs.”

The campaigners say the application contravenes multiple planning policies and should be refused.

What the objections say

The group’s case rests on a stack of concerns built up over months of poring through the application documents.

This corner of Cornwall, on the edge of the clay, already carries roughly twenty times the average concentration of solar farms found elsewhere in the county. Eight other solar farms sit within a four square mile area near St Stephen, drawn in by the National Grid connection. Campaigners argue planning policy was written precisely to prevent this kind of cumulative landscape impact, and that redundant china clay land nearby would be a more suitable home for panels than working farmland.

Public health is the campaigners’ second big worry. 27 households in the area rely on private water supplies, and the group says there are no guarantees the water will stay safe over the development’s 40-year life. They point to potential leaching of chemicals from the panels, cleaning agents reaching the soil, and acidic deterioration of the supports. The applicants did not address private water supplies in their original submission, only doing so after local people forced the issue.

The site itself is prime agricultural land. Over 65% is classified as Grade 3A, the “best and most versatile” category. Campaigners say losing it at a time of rising food prices and food insecurity is reckless, and that the Penhale operation contributes around £500,000 a year to the local economy through the businesses it supports.

On wildlife, the application identifies 46 species using the land, 11 of them on the red list and 10 on the amber. Mitigation in the application, the campaigners say, mostly amounts to assuming the animals will find somewhere else to live.

The hill at Trelion is also a flood concern. 200 acres of glass would dramatically increase surface water run-off into the Fal Valley below, which is already designated a flood risk area, with knock-on contamination risk reaching into the River Fal catchment.

The campaigners also point to what they describe as inconsistencies in the application itself. The submission was originally mislabelled as “X” rather than “Trelion,” making it hard to find on the planning portal. Promised mitigations from earlier EDF sites elsewhere remain unimplemented, they say, and the stated depth of the solar panel stands does not match the figure shown in the applicant’s own plans.

The local opposition

The application has drawn 137 comments on Cornwall Council’s planning portal, with just two in support. St Stephen-in-Brannel Parish Council has objected. So has the local member, Cllr Elaine Kist (Reform UK, St Stephen-In-Brannel), who brought the application to committee. Her stated concerns include conflict with the St Stephen-in-Brannel neighbourhood development plan, landscape and visual impacts, biodiversity net gain, flood risk and residential amenity.

85% of responses to the applicant’s own resident survey were negative.

The wider pattern

Cornwall Council’s planning committees have been here before. Since July 2024, the strategic planning committee has refused six solar farm applications. Every one has been allowed on appeal.

At a recent meeting deciding the Trevarthian Farm solar farm near Marazion, officers told councillors that refusing the application would likely see the decision overturned at appeal, with costs falling on the council. Members approved it reluctantly. Cllr Mike Thomas described the situation as “amazingly feudal,” saying members of the planning committee did not seem to have much choice.

The same warning is likely to land on Thursday’s committee. The officer report on Trelion notes that the 2024 update to the National Planning Policy Framework continues to back renewable energy development with less restriction than before.

What happens Thursday

Demonstration from 9am outside New County Hall. Committee meeting starts at 10am. Application reference PA24/05312.