28/07/2026
REF: Robin Hood Solar Farm – Public Exhibition Event
Dear Resident,
I am writing to provide an introduction/update on our draft and early stage proposals for Robin
Hood Solar Farm, a proposed 60MW (AC) fixed panel solar farm on a site near Robinhood End,
northwest of Braintree in Essex.
During our consultation activities, which included a near-neighbours meeting on 8 July, we have
been asked to come back to the local area and provide an update on our emerging solar farm
design.
As such, we will be holding a drop-in information event for the local community to come and
speak to the project team, see the updated scheme design and construction traffic
management proposals, and ask questions. The details of the event are provided below:
Date: Wednesday 5
th August 2026
Time: 3.00pm – 7.00pm
Location: Stambourne Village Hall, Church Road, Stambourne CO9 4NP
If you are receiving information from us on this proposal for the first time, that is because we
have been asked by the local community to extend engagement from a 2km area around the site
to include properties located along our suggested construction traffic route. There remains
plenty of time to contact us, find out more information and provide feedback.
More information can be found on this on our website regarding construction traffic but, in
summary, we are currently suggesting a one-way arrival and departure circular system whereby
HGV arrivals would be from the north-east from the A1017 via Stambourne with departures to
the west to the A1017 at Haverhill via Howe Street, Cornish Hall End and Steeple Bumpstead.
The number of HGV movements during construction will be no more than 15 HGVs per day at
peak periods, and for considerable periods of the 15-18 month construction period it will be
considerably less than this. The agricultural traffic movements associated with the existing
farming operations will be removed from the network. An operational solar farm generates just a
few LGVs a month for its ongoing maintenance. The impacts of this traffic are being assessed as
part of our forthcoming planning application due to be submitted in Autum 2026, and will be
subject to detailed construction traffic management measures. All of this information will be
provided within the planning application.
In the meantime, we are also making a request to Braintree District Council to agree the extent
and format of environmental information needed for our forthcoming planning application
submission. This request is called an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Request,
and it will include an updated (but not final) site layout design. The updated site layout design
will also be available to view at the information event. The EIA Scoping Request is a standard
part of the planning process, whereby an applicant requests the Local Planning Authority to
provide its views on the way the environmental assessment will be presented. The remainder of
the process up to planning application submission and beyond is set out on the attached
process and programme diagram.
In order to enable us to consider any further comments or feedback we would encourage this to
be submitted to us in writing by no later than 21 August using the contact details below:
Email: write to the project team at [email protected]
Freepost: write to us at FREEPOST TC CONSULTATION (no further address or stamp required)
Freephone: you can call the project freephone voicemail line on 0800 699 0081 and leave a
message (a member of the project team will call you back between Monday to Friday 9am to
5pm excluding public holidays)
We will collate all feedback received and present it in our Statement of Community Involvement
report which will accompany the planning application submission. Our project website:
www.robinhood-solar.co.uk contains project related information including an extensive list of
Frequently Asked Questions which I hope you will find to be a helpful resource.
I hope you are able to attend the information event and look forward to meeting with you.
Yours sincerely,
Stuart Langer
Planning Associate
Qualitas Energy
