Councillors in Doncaster have reluctantly agreed to remove harm to the green belt as a reason for refusing planning permission to a solar farm, after a High Court ruling meant it was no longer a valid defence.

In December 2025, members on the Doncaster Council’s planning committee refused permission for a solar farm to be built on 77-acres of land in Marr, Doncaster.

The committee said the proposed site was prime agricultural land and the development would cause unacceptable harm to the green belt and the benefits did not “clearly outweigh” those harms, as required by law.

However, the land was initially deemed to be ‘grey belt’. A new term introduced by the Labour Government, ‘grey belt’ is deemed to be less valuable parts, or “poor quality and ugly areas”, of protected green belt, which can be built on.

The High Court judgement has been handed down over the subject of Marr Solar Farm. Photo courtesy of Enviromena/Matt Ebbage

placeholder image — The High Court judgement has been handed down over the subject of Marr Solar Farm. Photo courtesy of Enviromena/Matt Ebbage

Before the December committee meeting, officers redesignated the land to green belt, but still recommended the development for approval and insisted the benefits outweighed the harms.

In the end, councillors disagreed and rejected the application. However, Enviromena, the applicants and experienced developers of renewable projects, immediately confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that they would appeal.

Since that meeting, a High Court judgement has ruled on how the grey belt definition should be interpreted, and planning officers informed this must now be taken into consideration for any appeal defence the council is required to put forward.

Officials recommended that the committee agree to remove reference to the green belt from the refusal for Enviromena’s application, in a meeting on March 10, 2026.

The report said the green belt refusal “therefore falls away and cannot legitimately be pursued at any future appeal”.

Councillors agreed the recommendation, but insisted the decision noted their frustration and disappointment.

Councillor Steve Cox told officers: “It feels like it is being taken out of local authority hands.

“We made a decision and now we’re being told it’s not green [belt] anymore.”

Coun Rob Dennis said: “This always was on the cards and unfortunately for the committee, this is how it’s panned out.

“I think we’re all disappointed,” he added.

Coun Dennis added that not he or any other committee member was an expert in planning law and that the committee should “accept the case law that has been passed down” and “back our officers”.

The committee were told that pressing on with this defence would weaken the other arguments the council would make at the appeal.

It means that should the council need to defend the decision at appeal, as Enviromena said it would do, it will no longer have green belt argument, which holds significant weight.

Environment said previously that they had recently won an appeal in similar circumstances and said the committee’s refusal was “not supported by the evidence”.