A renewable energy scheme has been proposed in the grounds of a historic farmhouse near Ulverston.
An application has been submitted to Westmorland and Furness Council for a 120m² ground-mounted solar panel array at Marton Hall, together with works to rebuild part of a stone boundary wall.
The plans, lodged on 4 June, are now out for consultation until 31 July.
Marton Hall is a Grade II listed 18th-century farmhouse with attached buildings.
The solar array would be installed on land to the south and west of the house, an area previously used as an informal garden and, more recently, as a storage yard during earlier redevelopment works.
The plot is enclosed on three sides by stone walls.
Panels would be set out to maximise sunlight, with cabling taken underground to a garage and then in trunking via an inverter and batteries to the hall’s three-phase electrical board.
Groundworks include levelling the site, laying a membrane and gravel, rebuilding a dismantled stone wall in a more regular, rectilinear shape to create a footprint of around 14m by 11.5m, and excavating a 750mm-deep service trench for the cables.
A heritage statement submitted with the plans describes the works as modest and confined to an already disturbed part of the curtilage.
It argues that any impact on the setting of the listed building would be “less than substantial” and is outweighed by the public benefits of generating renewable energy on site.
