A plan to turn a former landfill near Fareham into a solar farm is back on the table after previously being knocked back.

Navigate Corporation has submitted a new planning application for the former Funtley Refuse Tip site off Titchfield Lane in Wickham after withdrawing a previous one in 2023 that was set to be refused by Hampshire County Council.

Winchester City Council granted planning permission in 2013 for the construction of a 14MW Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Farm and gas management system with associated works on the former Funtley Landfill site in Fareham.

However, it was never implemented due to issues on the construction site.

The 2021 application was in response to the solar farm being unviable to install, as the construction of the solar panels would compromise the integrity of the landfill cap.

The application’s goal was to improve the 2013 plan by adding 1.1 million tonnes of inert material to strengthen the landfill cap. This would raise the overall site height by three meters to safely accommodate the solar farm’s delivery.

Hampshire County Council, which the application was made to, examined it over a two-year period but officers recommended refusing it due to ecology, landscape, and “other concerns”.

Navigate Corporation then withdrew the application in September 2023 to address concerns and resubmit – but the new version is already attracting objections from locals.

The planning statement said that the overall proposed development has not changed and would still lead to the installation and operation of a 10.5MW solar PV farm.

However, some changes have been made. The previous application considered importing 1.1 million tonnes of soils and clays to increase the overall site height by three metres. By reducing this to 1.5 metres and 507,106 tonnes, the firm said the impact on local roads has been “significantly reduced”.

This material will be delivered via tipper lorries in 20-tonne load sizes over a five-year period, which equates to 18 trips a day or up to two lorry trips an hour during a nine-hour working day (8am to 5pm).

Against the proposal, Helen Clare said it “yet again” will put more pressure on Fontley Road, “a lane that already cannot cope with the volume of lorries that use it”.

Another resident, Richard Bayly, said the traffic volume will increase in an already overused county lane.

He said: “This is a dangerous proposal and needs rethinking.”

Mrs Dominy highlighted that Fontley Road and Titchfield Lane can’t cope with the lorries travelling for five years, which “is more than our narrow bendy lane can cope with”.

The public can comment here on the proposals before a public consultation ends on October 18 2022.