Anna Bailey, leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, writes her monthly column for the Ely Standard.

I was disappointed by the actions of Cambridgeshire County Council when it pulled out of judicial review proceedings against the Sunnica solar farm in East Cambridgeshire. 

The Sunnica project has been been given the go-ahead.The Sunnica project has been been given the go-ahead. (Image: NEWSQUEST)

Judicial review proceedings from four local councils against the Sunnica project will no longer be pursued after Cambridgeshire County Council and West Suffolk Council withdrew from the process.

This means the cost of legal fees for the two remaining councils versus the likely financial return in a successful outcome was no longer a justifiable use of public funds.

Cambridgeshire County Council took no legal advice of its own in this matter, instead relying on the legal advice that was taken by the other three councils. 

All three sets of legal advice were consistent and the four councils joined together to begin legal proceedings, expending public money in doing so, by way of issuing a Pre-Action Protocol letter to the new Secretary of State Ed Miliband who had given the project the go ahead.

Following receipt of a response from the Secretary of State, the legal advice was still that there was a good case to pursue.  Despite this Cambridgeshire County Council decided to pull out from the group action. 

The three remaining councils agreed to continue and to bear the cost equally between them, even though all four councils stood to benefit financially from a successful outcome.  When West Suffolk Council also pulled out, the case to continue could no longer be justified.

It can surely be no coincidence that Cambridgeshire County Council relies on Labour votes in its Liberal Democrat led administration and that the new Secretary of State Ed Miliband is part of the Labour Government. 

The Liberal Democrats at Cambridgeshire County Council have prioritised their relationship with their Labour administration colleagues over the needs of local people in East Cambridgeshire. 

As a result local taxpayers now have to foot the bill for the costs to the councils of dealing with the planning aspects of this unwanted, appalling development on high grade food production land in rural East Cambridgeshire.