“The son-in-law of Camilla Parker-Bowles has seen his company accused of “misleading” planning officials in an attempt to secure permission for a 40-acre solar park.
Harry Lopes’ company Solstice Renewables has applied to build the panels, which would generate 8.5 megawatts of energy, on a plot of green belt land near Knebworth in Hertfordshire.
But Mr Lopes, whose wife Laura is Prince William’s step-sister, has seen the project suffer a blow after the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) submitted a damning six-page objection to the application.
National planning guidelines stipulate that high-quality soil should not be developed for solar panel parks, with sites assessed as being at the lower grade soil or previously developed ‘brownfield’ sites preferred.
Solstice Renewables said that while some of the proposed site had high quality soil, a “larger proportion” was “not of the highest quality”.”
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Pinkham, Elliot. The Telegraph 21 September 2014.