PLANS have been lodged to install hundreds of solar panels at an Ellesmere Port leisure centre.

Cheshire West and Chester Council has submitted a proposal for 816 roof-mounted panels at the Ellesmere Port Sports Village on Stanney Lane.

The authority also wants to install a 200kw air to water heat pump – to operate as a leader boiler – within a new compound set on a concrete base at the rear of the building.

The aim of the plans is to reduce carbon emissions and forms part of a national programme, for which grant funding is available, to assist the Government in achieving its 2050 net zero target.

The proposals for Ellesmere Port Sports Village come after the local authority recently submitted planning applications to install hundreds of solar panels on a number of its buildings in Chester – including the Northgate Arena.

The planning application for the scheme at the Ellesmere Port Sports Village, which opened in 2015, says a total of 816 PVs would be erected in 14 arrays over three flat roof areas.

They would all be more than 1m away from the roof edge and less than 1m from the highest part of the existing roof.

In a public sector decarbonisation scheme grant application report, put together on behalf of Cheshire West and Chester Council by Pearson Surveyors, it states: "The building would benefit both operationally and commercially whilst massively reducing its carbon impact on the environment."

Last week, the Ministry of Justice was given the green light to erect solar panels on the roof of Chester Magistrates Court.