A SENIOR officer of Cornwall Council will be attending a meeting in Callington later this month to explain why a proposed 'community benefit' offer of £625,000 relating to the Haye Road Solar Farm has turned out to be just £20,000.

Deputy senior legal officer at Cornwall Council Julian Kitto, who has special responsibility for planning, has agreed to attend a meeting of Callington Town Council on January 28, following confirmation that the new owners of the solar farm, Inazin, will be making the reduced payment after taking over the application from Sunpower following the approval of the application in 2011.

Cornwall Councillor and town council planning chairman Andrew Long said: 'It is important that the people of the town in general, and the residents in the vicinity of the farm in particular, are given an explanation of how these figures have changed so drastically.

'Given the fact that there was strong local opposition to the proposal both from the residents and the town council at the time, and the offer that was made by the applicants that could have offset some of the harm that the farm is doing to the local area, the town council believes that, as Cornwall Council legal officers signed off the new agreement, it is only right that they explain why this was allowed to happen.'

Cllr Long added: 'This apparent loop hole in the regulations, which gives no planning weight to any of these offers, has led to similar problems across Cornwall and it is going to be important that we and the other town and parish councils understand how this has occurred and what Cornwall Council will be doing to stop this situation from happening in the future.'

In a statement to the Times last month Cornwall Council said the volatility of feed-in tariff rates meant that there were occasions where developers amended their community benefit offer and this occurred with the Haye Lane development alongside a change in the developer of the site.

Mr Kitto will speak to the town council before the full council meeting at 7pm on Tuesday, January 28 and because of this additional item, the meeting will be held in the town hall. All members of the public are welcome to attend from 6.45pm.