Officers back a 7MW solar farm north of the A603 at Sandy, four years after it was lodged. Also decided today: 17 homes at Langford, decking at a Dunstable pub.
Central Bedfordshire’s Development Management Committee decides four planning applications this morning, and the biggest has been waiting four and a half years. Officers are recommending approval for a solar farm of up to 7MW with battery storage on 5.1 hectares of arable land north of the A603 between Sandy and Moggerhanger. (Agenda, Development Management Committee, 26 August 2026)
The committee meets at 9.30am in the Council Chamber at Priory House, Monks Walk, Shefford, SG17 5TQ. Meetings are open to the public.
The solar farm, application CB/22/00752/FULL
The application was made by KACH Capital Estates and registered on 10 March 2022. Its statutory determination date was 9 June 2022. It reaches committee 1,539 days after that deadline passed.
The officer report describes what would be built:
- 207 solar panel tables
- 10 battery storage containers
- two sub-station containers and two transformer cabinets
- 2.5-metre security fencing, raised 150mm off the ground so small animals can pass under it
- CCTV, a new vehicular access, hardstanding, drainage and landscaping
A condition would require the whole thing to stop generating within 35 years, be dismantled and the land returned to arable farming. (Officer report, item 5)
Officers accept the scheme conflicts with Policy SP7, because the site is open countryside. They give significant weight to renewable energy generation and energy security, and moderate weight to the biodiversity gains: the council’s ecologist puts them at 190.42% in habitat units and 506.96% in hedgerow units.
Against that they set moderate short-term landscape harm, the temporary loss of Grade 3a best and most versatile agricultural land, and less than substantial harm to heritage assets connected with Moggerhanger Park. The report is blunt about how the land would change. The open, agrarian character would be “drastically and noticeably altered with the introduction of utilitarian industrial infrastructure”. Because the equipment would stand for 30 to 40 years, officers say it would be “perceived as permanent rather than temporary”.
Who objects
Moggerhanger Parish Council objects, and its objection cannot be overcome by condition, which is why the application is at committee rather than being decided by officers. Its grounds include:
- the open countryside location
- the visual effect of the fencing on the character of the area
- glare from a low morning sun, on ground that rises from east to west
- battery storage 2.6 metres tall, visible from the road
Six third-party representations were received: five objections, one comment, none in support.
Sandy Airfield and Bedford Microlight Airsports Ltd object on aviation safety grounds, arguing the applicant’s glint and glare assessment is not reliable. Officers commissioned an independent aviation review and note that neither NATS nor the Civil Aviation Authority raised a safeguarding objection. They give the issue limited weight.
The Gardens Trust objects on heritage grounds and submitted a further representation on 24 August, two days before the meeting. It says Moggerhanger Park is a Grade II Registered Park and Garden whose significance depends partly on long-distance views, two of which, towards Hazells Hall and Bridge Farm House, would be affected. Officers accept the concern but hold that any harm sits at the lower end of “less than substantial” and is outweighed by the benefits. (Late sheet, 25 August 2026)
Two things the late sheet had to correct
The late sheet, published on Tuesday afternoon, amends the officer report in two places.
Historic England replied on 6 March 2026 saying it did not wish to comment. That response was not referenced in the report, and the late sheet adds it.
The report also failed to mention that the site sits inside the Greensand Ridge Nature Improvement Area, which engages Policy EE8. Officers say the biodiversity gains mean the designation does not weigh against the scheme.
One inconsistency is not corrected. The application address, and most of the report, place the site on the A603. The site location paragraph calls the same road “the A602 (Moggerhanger Road)”. The A602 is in Hertfordshire; the road between Sandy and Moggerhanger is the A603.
The other three
The Wheatsheaf, 82 High Street North, Dunstable: recommended for refusal. This is a retrospective application to keep work already carried out:
- external decking to the front and rear, with accessibility ramps
- two covered seating pods at the front
- a marquee in the rear garden and a television screen inside
- an altered outside bar
- rear boundary fencing and trellis 3.6 metres high, and 3 metres at the side
Officers give two reasons for refusal. The first is less than substantial harm to the Dunstable Conservation Area and to the setting of the Grade II listed former Dunstable Grammar School next door, now the Ashton Grove apartments. The second is that not enough information has been provided to show a net gain in biodiversity. (Officer report, item 6)
The late sheet adds a point that will matter well beyond this pub. The National Planning Policy Framework was republished in August 2026, and it carries a national decision-making policy, DM8, on unauthorised development. Where unauthorised work was done intentionally, that must count substantially against granting retrospective permission. Officers say they cannot conclude the work here was intentional, but that “the scale of the unauthorised works and lack of prior engagement” means the policy should be given significant weight. An evidence pack supporting the scheme arrived on 24 August and did not change the recommendation.
Two councillors called the application in from opposite directions: Cllr Brennan if it were recommended for approval, Cllr Hegley if it were recommended for refusal. The pub is on our directory as The Wheatsheaf, Dunstable.
Land to the rear of 76 Station Road, Langford: recommended for approval. An outline application by Land Promotions and Development Ltd to demolish one house and build up to 17, with everything reserved except access. The site is partly outside Langford’s settlement envelope, so it conflicts with Policy SP7, but officers note the council cannot currently demonstrate a five-year housing land supply. Approval would be subject to a section 106 agreement completed within six months, failing which officers would refuse it. (Officer report, item 7)
The obligations sought are:
- £12,801 to the NHS, at £753 per home, towards Langford Surgery or the new Biggleswade Integrated Health and Care Hub
- £18,578 towards refurbishment at Saxon Pool and Leisure Centre
- £25,000 towards children’s play facilities at King George Memorial Recreation Ground
- £6,994 towards playing pitch and outdoor sport provision at the same recreation ground
- 30% affordable housing, plus two self-build or custom-build plots
That is £63,373 in named contributions, on top of a monitoring fee still to be agreed.
Fulbrook Middle School, Weathercock Lane, Aspley Guise: recommended for approval. A variation of ten conditions on the permission for the school’s new teaching block and sports hall. Most record revised drawings, and one covers a redesigned vehicle entrance gate that can take larger vehicles. The applicant is Central Bedfordshire Council itself, and a neighbour has objected, which is why it goes to committee. (Officer report, item 8)
What it means for you
If you have an interest in any of these, today is the day the decision is taken, not the day it is published. Minutes and decision notices follow afterwards, and the recommendation in an officer report is not the outcome: committees do refuse what officers back, and approve what officers do not.
The next Development Management Committee is on 23 September 2026, with member site inspections on 16 September. Applications reach that committee only if a parish council objects, a councillor calls them in, or the council is the applicant. Everything else is decided by officers without a public meeting.
If you want to be told about applications near you, or to comment on one, start with our guide to planning applications in Leighton Buzzard. The council’s committee contact for the agenda papers above is committeemeetings@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.
Two of today’s four items are new housing, and the Langford scheme is the kind of small edge-of-village site that the district keeps approving while it lacks a five-year land supply. What that is doing to prices is in our monthly figures on house prices across Central Bedfordshire.
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