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29
Dec 2024
Decision made on plans for 40 solar panels on church near Knaresborough
North Yorkshire Council has refused plans to install 40 solar panels on the roof of a church near Knaresborough.
The application, put to the council in October, sought approval to install the solar panels, plus three air source heat pumps, at St Mary the Virgin Church in Goldsborough.
Plans said the grade-one listed church, which dates back to the thirteenth century but was restored in 1750 and 1859, would be “futureproofed” through the scheme.
St Mary the Virgin Church is part of the Church of England. It holds services for many religious events and holidays, including Easter, Christmas and weekly Sunday services. It is also used for baptisms, weddings and funerals, planning documents say.
But the church hoped by installing both the solar panels and air source heat pumps, it would be able to provide a more sustainable future to both the church and its congregation, as well as local groups and organisations.
The proposal says the panels would have been installed on the church's south-facing roof slope, while the three pumps would have been sited outside, beneath the east window, to generate electricity and help to heat the church.
“These additions will reduce the building’s carbon footprint significantly – and allow the church to contribute to the Church of England’s route map to net zero carbon by 2030”, it adds.
A planning document also says:
The chosen solar panels are black with black frames to reduce their visual prominence and reflectivity.
The panels will be mounted on rails on top of the roof slating, which ensures that when they reach end of life they can be easily replaced or removed entirely with no harm to the building fabric.
Plans to install solar panels on the roof of St Mary the Virgin Church, Goldsborough
A planning document said the scheme had been “carefully considered to minimise or avoid harm to historic fabric and maintain legibility and appreciation of the building”.
However, a conservation officer who commented on the plans said the proposal would be a “visually obtrusive, alien and modern intervention” to principle architectural components of the building.
‘The harm is not justified or outweighed by public benefit’
The council refused the plans on December 20.
In a report, it said:
The incongruous additions and alterations to the host building would result in harm to the heritage asset, fail to preserve the listed building, its setting within the conservation area and erode its architectural and historic interest.
The report acknowledges the benefits of the proposal, including reducing the church’s carbon footprint and work towards becoming more sustainable, but the council felt the harm to the church is not justified or outweighed by public benefit.
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