A campaign group fighting the decision to approve the Sunnica Energy Farm has paused a crowdfunding campaign for its own legal challenge – but reassures supporters to “watch this space”.  

Say No to Sunnica managed to raise the funds needed to launch their own judicial review within four days of their CrowdJustice page going live.  

But when it was revealed that a separate four-council led legal challenge to also fight the decision collapsed, the group paused their efforts “to review their own situation”.  

A spokesperson from Say No to Sunnica said: “We would like to say thank you because we had an overwhelming response to the crowdfunding campaign.  

“Within four days we reached the target we needed to get the legal challenge underway and the preliminary papers have been submitted.    

“However following the local authorities’ joint decision to withdraw, we have put a pause on our fundraising efforts to review our own situation.    

“The public increasingly understand the blight this will have on their lives and are reeling that these decisions are going against them.  

“They’ve lost faith in the democratic process – we followed the legal planning procedure, yet the Examining Authority recommendation to reject this scheme was overturned .  

“We now have to take stock. Watch this space.”    

The page had reached £14,225 when the CrowdJustice page was paused.  

The Say No To Sunnica CrowdJustice page raised over £14,000 before it was paused. The Say No To Sunnica CrowdJustice page raised over £14,000 before it was paused. (Image: CrowdJustice) Say No to Sunnica has campaigned tirelessly against the development, which is considered one of Europe’s biggest solar farms.  

The scheme will be built across 2,500-acres of farmland across the East Cambridgeshire and West Suffolk border.  

Campaigners argue the scheme is “poor quality” and will threaten food security as it will cover food-producing land.  

The previous government repeatedly pushed back on making a final decision. 

But within days of his appointment as the Energy and Net Zero Secretary in the new Labour cabinet, Ed Miliband granted the development consent for the solar farm much to the dismay of local councils and residents.