Lightsource Renewable Energy's proposals to harness the Cambridgeshire sunshine with two new solar farms that have been given the green light by South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC).

The proposals to install both solar farms within the Parish of Melbourn, close to Royston, were approved by the SCDC planning committee on November 5th 2014.

With a combined installed capacity of 53 MWp (Megawatts-Peak), the two solar power stations will generate enough green electricity to power more than 15,500 local households.

Both schemes gathered widespread support from the local community and a total of 44 letters were received by SCDC in favour of the proposals.

Melbourn Parish Council and neighbouring Heydon Parish Council also gave their official support to the schemes.

The Lightsource in-house planning team undertook a thorough community consultation which included pro-active engagement with local stakeholders like the RSPB to develop a bespoke biodiversity management plan which will support the ongoing conservation work at the nearby Fowlmere Reserve.

A specially created 'Wild Bird Area' and 'Turtle Dove Area' on one of the solar farms will provide feeding opportunities for nesting turtle dove pairs, as well as a range of farmland birds.

More than 40 bird and bat nesting boxes will also be installed in total.

Extensive consultation was also carried out with English Heritage and the Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeologist to ensure protection of the Bran Ditch Scheduled Monument and buried archaeology remains.

Mitigation measures are set out in the Archaeological Management Plan which was agreed by all stakeholders involved in this process.

Conor McGuigan, Business Development Director at Lightsource, said: "We are very proud to make this announcement.

Our key achievement is clearly the hard work and commitment shown by our inhouse team during the community consultation process.

We spoke to anyone who showed an interest in our schemes and worked diligently to address any concerns." The solar farms are sited within well-screened areas and were carefully selected to ensure minimum visual impact.

Lightsource have also included additional planting of hedgerows, shrubs and trees to further enhance the biodiversity appeal of both schemes.

Conor McGuigan concludes: "Of course good site selection is key, however equal focus has to be given towards ensuring the scheme provides maximum benefit to the community and only local knowledge can do this.

We carried out a wide consultation, including neighbouring parishes.

As a result, we received lots of ideas and suggestions on how we could further improve our proposals to really make a difference.

We were commended at the planning committee for our consultation process and this is the true measure of success."