Cr Fred Longmire flagged the possibility of the town’s expansion northward being stymied if the proposal to generate 140 megawatts of electricity from 400,000 solar panels on the property is approved.

His comments were made at the final Federation Council meeting of the year when it decided to provide comment on concerns as part of the preliminary environmental impact statement to be prepared by ESCO Pacific.

Cr Bronwyn Thomas declared a pecuniary interest in the item due to a family member owning the property earmarked for the solar farm between Savernake and Tocumwal roads.

Cr Thomas also left the chamber for an item dealing with road closures which included a roadway which partly runs through the area identified for the proposed solar farm.

Cr Longmire queried the potential restraints on Mulwala’s growth if the solar farm was approved in a question to infrastructure and environment director, Peter Gall.

“There is a feeling it may limit development, but we haven’t gone through any works to confirm that,” Mr Gall said.

“Future development of Mulwala is a balance of what can be achieved around the lake versus what we can provide in cheaper land off the lake.

“It is a potential limiting factor, but we haven’t gone through a full discussion yet.”

Surrounding land uses are rural, large lot residential and industrial with part of the proposed site including land zoned R2 which has the primary objectives of encouraging housing and related facilities.

The project will generate 130 construction jobs with final approval resting with the NSW Planning Department.

The council didn’t indicate when its feedback would be provided to the proponent which is hoping to begin preparing an environmental impact statement in early February.