WORK has started on a giant West Somerset solar farm two years after it was controversially approved by a Government planning inspector.

Elgin Energy first applied four-and-a-half years ago for planning permission to develop 100 acres of farmland as a solar park at Washford Cross, near Watchet, but was turned down in July 2023.

The company then appealed to the Planning Inspectorate and was granted consent in 2024 with the inspector stating it was too far away to have any impact on Exmoor National Park or the Quantock Hills National Landscape.

Now, heavy machinery has been seen moving on site to start the construction of a solar farm which Elgin said would supply about 25 million kWh of electricity per year, enough to power an average of 7,500 homes.

The news was met with dismay by retired nurse and lecturer Dr Jane Armstrong, who lives close to the site and helped lead opposition to the planning appliation.

Dr Armstrong said: “The whole of West Somerset should be profoundly disappointed and upset because we will now have a solar farm in the valley bang in the middle of the Quantocks and Exmoor.

“How that can get past a so-called planning inspector after the council refused it, we do not know.

“It leaves a very bad, horrendous, taste in the mouth.”

Dr Armstrong said she understood Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband had granted Elgin one of a limited number of licences, which encouraged the firm to go ahead.

Tropiquaria director Chris Moiser said: “It is very sad to see such high quality farmland being used for this purpose at a time when food security has never been more important than it was during the Second World War.”

The Free Press has approached Elgin for comment but has not received any response.