Cheshire East Councils' mission to becoming carbon neutral by 2025 has taken one step closer as they have announced that work is set to begin on the Leighton Grange Solar Farm.

The solar farm development is the second phase of Cheshire East Council's relationship with Biowise – part of the Urbaser Group.

The 4.1-megawatt solar farm will have enough power for 1,200 houses had planning approved by the Council in March 2022 and will be built opposite Cheshire East's state-of-the-art composting facility which the solar farm will supply power to.

Alongside supplying power to the composting plant, which is operated by Biowise, it will also put green energy back into the national grid, helping to offset a significant amount of the council's carbon emissions.

This arrangement has meant that the project is self-funded offsetting costs by the sale of energy back into the national grid and to Biowise.

Councillor Mick Warren, chair of the council's environment and communities committee, said: "Cheshire East Council is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2025, and that means reducing emissions that the council has direct control over. We will do everything within our powers to achieve this.

"We are delivering a wide range of projects to reduce our carbon emissions, including decarbonising council buildings though initiatives such as low carbon heat pumps, LED lighting, solar panels, and improved heating systems.

"Streetlights and road signs across the borough are being upgraded to LED lighting, we've introduced electric vehicles for services, and are trialing hydrogen for our refuse vehicles through the North West's first hydrogen refuelling station in Middlewich.

"We know that we can't eliminate these carbon emissions completely by 2025, so projects like this one at Leighton Grange are vital, in order to offset some of those emissions and help us to reach our target.

"Another way we will offset our carbon emissions is through significant tree-planting across the borough. We are well underway with this project, with plans to plant 100 hectares of trees by 2025 – the equivalent of 140 football pitches. This solar farm will sit alongside our largest single-site tree-planting scheme to date, where we planted seven hectares of trees in 2022."

Bob Wilkes, managing director at Biowise, added: "To add a carbon-neutral source to the process by which Cheshire East Council recycles its kitchen and garden waste into 100 per cent organic compost should be congratulated.

"It provides residents with a model of best practice on how to manage local waste and we are delighted to have been able to play our part in that process and look forward to many years of carbon-free composting."

The farm itself will be installed in early autumn by Gamma Energy Limited with work due to be finished by the end of the year.