A CAMPAIGN has been launched to stop a 100-acre solar-energy farm being built on agricultural land at Washford, claiming that the massive development would blight the area and drive away tourists.

This follows news of a full planning application, made public on Christmas Eve, by London-based firm Elgin Energy Esco Ltd, seeking to build the solar farm on arable farmland north of Washford owned by the Wyndham Estate and stretching as far east as Tropiquaria Zoo and north to the outskirts of Watchet.

The proposal will be discussed by Somerset West and Taunton Council’s planning committee at a future meeting.

When Elgin Energy first suggested the scheme in May 2018, a 40-strong protest group launched a campaign to oppose it, claiming that the development was ‘completely inappropriate for the area’ and would be ‘an eyesore seen from as far away as Staple Plain, West Quantoxhead and the Brendon Hills’.

More than 200 people attended a public consultation in May 2018 and a questionnaire circulated in the area produced numerous objections. Two farmers said they would lose substantial amounts of land if the project went ahead.

“The protest group is back in action and we will have to fight this battle all over again,” said Richard Burnell, whose family has run Wyndham Estate’s Parsonage Farm on the outskirts of Watchet since 1948 and who is set to lose 50 acres of his 250 acres of arable land if the scheme goes through.

He added: “No-one is against solar energy but the overpowering scale of the proposed scheme is completely inappropriate for the area. We will lose good land and open countryside. The clock is ticking and we only have three weeks to put in objections.”

The group will hold an open meeting in Washford Memorial Hall next Wednesday (January 5) at 7pm for residents wishing to become involved in fighting the proposal.

Making an application for full planning permission for a solar farm, battery storage and associated development, agents RPS Planning and Development Ltd said the applicants had a proven track record for developing solar parks sympathetically within the countryside to the highest standards.

The 100-acre site comprised 13 agricultural fields stretching east from Washford to near the Tropiquaria Zoo and north to near the outskirts of Watchet.

The dark blue and black panels mounted up to three metres from the ground on steel and aluminium frames, would produce a yearly electricity output equal to the average consumption of 7,500 homes and would have a life of 40 years.

The site would be surrounded by a 2.4 metre post and wire fence and construction of the solar farm would take about 16 weeks and employ up to 100 workers. There would be no permanent staff on site.

An agricultural survey, commissioned by the developers, was of the opinion that the entire site was lower quality land and that the proposed development would not significantly harm any agricultural interests.

For the full story, see this week’s Free Press.