Renewable sites › South Lees Farm
South Lees Farm
South Lees Farm is an operational 11 MW solar farm in Swale, generating since 22 June 2014. Planning permission was granted on 22 January 2014, 4 months after submission. Operator of record: Solar Century.
Planning and build timeline
| Application submitted | 4 October 2013 |
| Permission granted | 22 January 2014 4 months after submission |
| Operational | 22 June 2014 5 months after consent |
Screening a site of your own?
Swale approves 96% of solar farms. Redline puts that number, and everything else the record holds, against your own boundary: the authority’s actual approval rate and decision times, every designation inside the red line, agricultural grade, 1 m LIDAR earthworks, how contested the grid is, and yield with a P90 — before you spend on a consultant.
Arrives prefilled with South Lees Farm’s recorded coordinate — swap in your own postcode or coordinates.
What this site sits on
The recorded coordinate falls on land surveyed as Grade 3 agricultural land. The published survey does not split Grade 3 into 3a and 3b, so this alone does not settle whether the land counts as best and most versatile.
REPD gives one representative coordinate per scheme, not the site boundary, so this describes the point on record rather than the whole site — a large site can straddle a designation edge. Boundaries come from planning.data.gov.uk, which publishes for England only.
Swale’s record on solar
Swale has decided 26 solar farms and approved 96%, taking a median of 2.5 months. See every solar farm decision in Swale →
Other built sites within 15 km
| Site | MW | Distance |
|---|---|---|
Battery · Under Construction | 40 | 2.8 km |
Wind Onshore · Operational | 4.6 | 3.2 km |
Biomass (dedicated) · Operational | 25 | 3.9 km |
Wind Onshore · Operational | 8.8 | 4 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 8 | 4.5 km |
EfW Incineration · Operational | 49.9 | 5.1 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 2 | 5.4 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 22 | 5.5 km |
How big is South Lees Farm?
South Lees Farm has a recorded installed capacity of 11 MW. That figure is the capacity registered in REPD, which is the scheme as consented — the metered output of a site can differ.
Who operates South Lees Farm?
REPD records the operator as Solar Century. Ownership of built renewable assets changes hands regularly and REPD is published quarterly, so treat this as the operator of record rather than confirmation of who owns it today.
When was South Lees Farm approved and built?
The application was submitted on 4 October 2013. Permission was granted on 22 January 2014, 4 months later. The site became operational on 22 June 2014, 5 months after consent.
Source: Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD), Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Open Government Licence v3.0, plus planning designation boundaries from planning.data.gov.uk (England only). REPD is published quarterly and covers schemes of roughly 150 kW and above. Capacity is the installed capacity on record, not metered generation. Operator is the operator of record at the last extract, not confirmation of present ownership. Reference 1767.
Novarly Parcel · official public data, read properly · parcel.novarly.com
All sites · Screen your own site · Planning by council · Coal mining search by postcode