DECISION DELAYED

Calum Miller, MP for Bicester and Woodstock and Layla Moran, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon have both sent strongly worded letters this week to Secretary of State (SoS), Ed Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

LAYLA’S LETTER

In her letter of (29 April), Layla writes: “I am concerned by the sheer extent of the gaps in information highlighted by your formal response to the applicant on 14th of April 2026 in relation to the Botley West Solar proposal.”

“Many key issues remain unresolved and key parties are being cut out of the post examination process.”

“Matters that were examined at length during the Planning Inspectorate’s Examination, including alternative site selection, grid connection and deliverability, impact on Blenheim World Heritage Site, landscape and visual effects, ecological mitigation, flood risk, aviation issues, compulsory acquisition [and Residential Visual Amenity Assessments] have had to be revisited as evidence remains disputed or is incomplete.”

“Your requests for further information from Botley West implicitly acknowledge wide ranging concerns. Given the clock is ticking on the 8 week timetable set out in the 26th of March statement, clarity is urgently needed on how this next stage will be conducted. Affected communities need the opportunity to engage so that confidence in the fairness and robustness of the process can be restored.”

Read Layla’s full letter here.

CALUM’S LETTERS

Calum’s earlier letter (26 March) criticised SoS’s delay of decision, arguing that “throughout the examination there were repeated and serious questions about the adequacy of the applicant’s work.” and asking “why was the application not refused and the developer invited to return with a more robust and properly evidenced scheme?”

His concerns were proved entirely justified in light of the unprecedented number of issues raised in SoS’s letter (14 April) and its highly unusual call for a complete redesign at the decision stage after such a thorough examination.

In Calum’s second letter (30 April) he asks why he and Layla have not been included in the list of Interested Parties to whom SoS’s letter of 14 April is addressed. He also asks for their promised but cancelled meeting with Michael Shanks (Minister in DESNZ dept) to be reinstated.

Read Calum’s 1st letter here and 2nd letter here.

PLEASE ACT NOW

Write to your MP expressing your support and concerns.

This can be a very brief message of support or a longer letter detailing your concerns. A large number of letters will provide evidence of the widespread concerns for our MPs to take to their meeting - if that happens - or for their future representations on our behalf.

The key questions are:

1. Given serious flaws in the design indicated by the large number of questions and calls for redesign in SoS letter of 14 April, why was the application not refused outright, rather than the examination extended?
2. Why is there no clear explanation of how the affected communities can engage in this extension of the examination?
3. Why are MPs not included in the list of Interested Parties?

Please send your letters to:

Calum Miller: calum.miller.mp@parliament.uk

Layla Moran: layla.moran.mp@parliament.uk

WHAT YOU CAN DO - AFTER 9 June

1. Read the Applicant’s answers which will be published here
2. Pick just one or two topics of particular interest or where you have specific local knowledge
3. Write a robust and factual response to these answers.
4. At this stage you may wish to include your concerns about the process that has allowed the Applicant this undeserved extra time.
5. Send your response to botleywestsolar@planninginspectorate.gov.uk