A SOLAR farm which will provide power for 1,130 homes has been given the green light - after being down-sized by 78 per cent.

Cressing Solar Farm Ltd, owned by ESCO NRG Limited, was granted permission from Braintree Council to build 46 rows of solar panels on agricultural land to the south of Sheepcote Wood off Witham Road, White Notley.

The company initially planned a 23 MWp site - which could have seen 92,000 solar panels built - but cut the site to 5 MWp after a public consultation last summer.

Braintree Council’s Planning Committee agreed to the new plans at its meeting on November 10 and the smaller solar farm will be allowed to stay on the site for up to 25 years.

In a report of the meeting, development manager, Tessa Lambert, said the 2.7m high panels would be blocked from view by hedgerows and would not cause "unacceptable traffic impacts".

However the report states there will be "frequent" traffic entering and leaving the site from Witham Road during the solar farm's three-month construction.

The report said: "Overall - officers are of the view that the proposal is acceptable in principle in terms of both national and local policies and can be achieved without causing unacceptable local impacts."

A temporary track will be built along one side of the field to provide access to the site, which will be removed when the solar farm is decommissioned.

One rectangular section of the 9.3 hectare wheat field will be built on, while the rest will continue to be used as agricultural land.

White Notley and Faulkbourne Parish Council said it "unanimously agreed" the revised plans and had received no objections from residents about the new energy source, in a letter to Braintree Council.

The energy will be pumped into the National Grid and will provide power to nearby homes.