East Riding Council to “Vigorously Defend” Against £40 Million Solar Farm Lawsuit

East Riding Council has announced its intention to “vigorously defend” itself in light of a £40 million legal action launched by another council against 23 local authorities. Thurrock Council, a local authority situated in Essex, is pursuing legal action against 23 councils. This lawsuit aims to recover financial losses incurred from a series of unsuccessful solar farm investments made between 2017 and 2020. The councils involved are all members of the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE). Thurrock claims that APSE provided “negligent and overvalued” assessments of solar farm locations. John Kent, leader of Thurrock Council, stated that APSE furnished “inaccurate valuations,” which gave the council “misplaced confidence” in its investments. The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that the authority issued a section 114 notice, frequently referred to as a bankruptcy notice, in December 2022. These notices are issued when a council’s funds are depleted. Mr. Kent remarked: “Since we raised our legal concerns about the valuations with APSE in September 2023, we have explained that the council has no option but to pursue the millions of pounds of public money that was lost through poor investments. “We know what a challenging time this is for all councils, and we never wanted to pursue individual councils, but unfortunately APSE didn’t have adequate insurance or protection in place, meaning that its member councils are liable for consequences of decisions taken by APSE.”” East Riding Council issued a statement saying: “East Riding of Yorkshire Council along with 22 other local authorities has been named as a party to the proceedings and is intending, along with other local authorities, to vigorously defend the claim.”