Dorset school pupils win solar panel battle against council

Pupils at Cerne Abbas School wrote to Dorset Council to ask it to agree to panels on both the front and rear of the main school building. Conservation officers had recommended removing the panels from the Duck Street frontage because of the ‘harm’ they would cause to the look of the village conservation area.

Cerne Abbas School pupils took on the council and won their fight for more solar panels

But area planning committee members agreed with the pupils – although later rejected a similar plea from the pupils at Stickland's School, Evershot, deciding that to remove some panels from the front of the Summer Lane building would look better, considering a grade 2 listed building directly opposite the school and other listed buildings nearby.

An application for 28 panels at Cheselbourne school in Drakes Lane went ahead without any letters of objection or support. The scheme will produce 10KW of power, saving more than 2,000kg of Carbon Dioxide each year.

Cheselbourne school

The northern area planning committee heard that the three schemes, which will be paid for by a one-off Government grant to Dorset Council, will make a small but significant contribution to energy generation and deliver financial savings for each of the schools.

In addition to the panels Stickland's School at Evershot will also fit two wall mounted air source pumps to the rear of the  main building – producing 22KW of power and saving 2,000kg of Carbon dioxide each year, almost double the power likely to be generated from the remaining roof-mounted solar panels.

• READ MORE: ‘Conservation getting in way of climate action’ after solar panels decision

Stickland School in Evershot

Cerne Abbas Church of England First School will get all the 88 panels requested instead of half the amount being recommended after the intervention of its School Council. The panels are expected to produce 30KW of power, saving more than 6,000kg of CO2.

The pupils said they wanted to panels on both sides of the roof to help them grow up in a healthy place and to cut down on carbon emissions.

Removing some panels from the south and south west frontage of the main building at Stickland's School will cut down on the 94 panels originally proposed across several buildings on the site, but what will be left is said to still make an important contribution to climate change. The school’s pupil eco committee asked councillor to approve the full amount claiming the scheme would make a positive contribution to the village.

“Act now while we have the chance…this is our school and we want to protect it,” said their letter.