Plans to build a solar farm capable of producing enough electricity to power nearly 5,000 homes have been rejected by councillors.
Members of Havering Council’s regulatory services committee threw out the planning application over fears it would spoil the landscape.
The proposal would have put 60,100 panels measuring 1m by 1.6m on green belt land associated with Clay Tye Farm in Upminster.
Councillors rejected the plans by 10 votes to nil, with one abstaining, at a meeting on December 18.
Cllr Ron Ower (East Havering Residents’ Group, Upminster) said: “The application was for 60,000 panels, which would have been two metres high. I thought they’d be visually obstructive, detrimental to the green belt and set a dangerous precedent.”
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