The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has pushed the May 10 deadline – the weekend after local elections – back to September 10.
A decision is to be ultimately made by the secretary of state, a position held by Ed Miliband at the moment.
Martin McCluskey, minister for energy consumers, said the decision is to “enable my department to seek further information from the applicant with sufficient time to allow for consideration of this information by other interested parties”.
He added: “The decision to set the new deadline for this application is without prejudice to the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent.”
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Botley West would be Europe’s largest solar farm, covering about 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) across three areas – north of Woodstock, west of Kidlington and west of Botley.
It would cost £800m and produce a potential 840 megawatts (just under one gigawatt), enough to power over 300,000 homes, the developers Photovolt say.
Manging director Mark Owen-Lloyd said the extension is “common part of the DCO (Development Consent Order) process” to allow for the department to review further information.
Photovolt director, Mark Owen-Lloyd (Image: PVDP)
He added: “We welcome the opportunity to continue engaging constructively with the government and other stakeholders.
“We remain confident in the strength of our application, which has been developed following extensive consultation and detailed environmental and technical assessment.”
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The Stop Botley West campaign group said the delay is “not good news” for Photovolt as it suggests not enough information “in many areas” has been submitted.
A statement from the group said: “We don’t know what ‘further information’ is being sought but a further four months delay is not good news for the applicant and reinforces what we’ve been saying – that they failed to provide the required information in many areas during the examination.”
Bicester and Woodstock Calum Miller claimed the decision to push back the decision is a “clear signal that the Planning Inspectorate recommended against approval”.
Calum Miller (Image: Office of Calum Miller MP)
He criticised the process as giving the developer “more time behind closed doors to patch up a case that should already have been made”.
Mr Miller said the Planning Inspectorate was “openly critical” of Photovolt’s approach when it issued a Rule 17 letter raising a series of concerns and telling the applicant that its response came across as “very dismissive”.
The Planning Inspectorate added that it was “extraordinary” that it had simply repeated its methodology despite repeated objections.
Mr Miller added: “Ministers should not be giving the developer more time to mark its own homework. They should have rejected this application and told PVDP to come back with a better scheme.
“With energy bills still exposed to shocks in global oil and gas markets, it is clear that renewables must play a central role in strengthening our energy security.
“But if the government wants to bring the public with it on the clean energy transition, it cannot ride roughshod over local scrutiny whenever a developer’s case starts to fall apart.”
