Isleham memorial field to host Sunnica solar farm after Miliband approval

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has approved a sprawling solar-energy project that will extend across Cambridgeshire and parts of Suffolk, including a field near Isleham long regarded as the resting place of a 1949 USAF bomber crew. The Sunnica Energy Farm, covering about 2,500 acres and stretching roughly 15 miles, is part of the government’s push to expand renewable capacity under its Net Zero agenda. Developers say the plan aligns with national goals, but locals warn the site sits on hallowed ground and fear memory of the airmen will be diminished.

The approval comes despite a 2023 Planning Inspectorate finding the project inappropriate in part because of the possibility that human remains could still be in the field. The decision, described by some residents as a break with local sentiment, was announced three days after Labour formed a new government, a timing that has intensified debate over balancing climate objectives with memorial preservation. The dispute centers on a field that, for decades, has been linked to a World War II incident in which a U.S. Air Force Boeing B-50 Superfortress crashed near Isleham after an in-flight fire during a training mission from RAF Lakenheath, killing 12 crew members, 11 of them American and one British.

On October 13, 1949, the bomber, overloaded with 16 500-pound bombs, took off from Lakenheath on a routine flight toward Heligoland, Germany, when a fire forced the crew to choose between attempting to land and saving Isleham or losing the aircraft to spare the village. It crashed in a field just outside the village, a catastrophe that shattered windows in the local primary school and left a lasting imprint on residents who recall the blast as a defining moment for the community. Local testimonies describe the crash site as an area where the memories and remains of those who perished were once interwoven with the land, a fact that continues to color perceptions of any development in the vicinity.

Among Isleham residents, the plan to build Sunnica over the field has provoked strong emotion. Linda Dunbavin, now 80, who remembers being four years old when the plane went down, told reporters she believes Miliband’s approval erases the memory of the airmen. “Those soldiers gave their lives to save our village and a whole generation of children,” she said. “Ed Miliband is desecrating their blood and bones.” David Brown, 89, who was inside the school during the crash, said he was not pleased about Sunnica’s footprint on the site and called the project disrespectful to those who died.

As part of the Sunnica project, the 2,500-acre site would host a large solar farm with panels across the field and surrounding areas. The developers have proposed a single exclusion zone — a square kept free of panels — and the placement of a memorial plaque to honor the airmen, a concession intended to acknowledge the historical significance of the location. Sunnica has stressed that it conducted geophysical surveys to identify the crash crater and that an exclusion zone would be observed around the crater to protect the memorial location. A spokesperson for Sunnica said the company is committed to recognizing the importance of the site while pursuing renewable-energy objectives.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero released a statement saying it respects the significance of the field to Isleham and to the memory of those who died in the 1949 crash. It added that the department supports the developer’s commitment to honor the airmen by creating a protected area around the site. The government’s stance reflects a broader tension in the climate policy landscape: accelerating clean energy infrastructure while safeguarding places of historical importance and the memories attached to them. Critics argue that more could be done to preserve or commemorate the site beyond a single exclusion zone and a plaque, while proponents contend the project is a necessary step toward meeting national emissions targets and delivering renewable capacity for communities across the region.

The Isleham controversy echoes similar debates around wind and solar developments near cultural or historic sites. Proponents say such projects reduce carbon emissions and bolster local electricity supply, while opponents warn against placing industrial-scale energy infrastructure on or around places of memory. In Isleham, the debate is sharpened by the incident’s deep ties to the village’s identity and the emotional resonance of the airmen who died in 1949 while attempting to avert greater devastation for the town. A memorial service held last October for the airmen — marking the 75th anniversary of the crash — underscored the enduring impact of the event on the community and its expectations for any future changes to the landscape near the site.

Officials in the surrounding counties will continue to monitor how Sunnica’s development aligns with both national energy goals and local sensitivities. For Isleham, the chosen path reflects a broader question: how to reconcile large-scale energy transitions with the preservation of sites where history and memory are entwined with the land.