WEST Somerset MP Rachel Gilmour has used Parliamentary privilege to attack a developer for ‘railroading’ a farmer to ensure a huge solar farm could be built near Watchet.

Elgin Energy applied in 2021 to build the solar farm on 98 acres of fields owned by the Wyndham Estate next to Tropiquaria Zoo, Washford Cross.

Somerset Council rejected the plans because of landscape impact and the loss of high-quality agricultural land.

But planning inspector Callum Parker later overturned the decision and granted permission because he did not believe the project would adversely affect either Exmoor National Park or the Quantock Hills.

Now, Mrs Gilmour has spoken out in Parliament, accusing Elgin of misleading the council.

She called for the Government to create new legislation to prevent such situations happening again.

Mrs Gilmour said: “In Washford, a farmer called Mr Dibble has a farm in his family’s name.

“They have been there for generations.

“Some time ago, developers came to see him with a plan for development on the farm, and he refused.

“His lease is guaranteed for another generation, but the solar farm developers did not seem to care.

“He reached out to me because of the unfairness of the situation.

“I was shocked to find out the developers had organised a surveyor to visit his property, who had deemed it sub-par agricultural land.

“Anybody with eyes can see that is not the case.

“Farmer Dibble would not have been able to grow the crops he has on that land, had it been of the quality the developers claimed it was.

“His land is grade one or two at the very least, yet surveyors are coming in, paid for by the developers, to say that, surprise, surprise, it is grade three at best.”

Agricultural land in England and Wales is classified on a Defra scale with one being the ‘best and most versatile’ and five being the worst.

National planning law discourages development on ‘best and most versatile’ agricultural land, but councils do not have authority to order an independent land quality assessment.

Mrs Gilmour and other Liberal Democrat MPs have backed a new clause for forthcoming legislation which would prevent developers from ‘using their own surveyors who have a vested interest in downgrading agricultural land in order to secure planning permission’.

She said: “If a development is proposed for agricultural land that falls outside the land use framework, and there are competing assessments of the agricultural grade of that land, this clause would give local authorities the power to demand that a new, independent assessment of land quality be undertaken.

“That would stop the railroading of farmers and help to preserve good agricultural land, rather than seeing it built over.

“Our farmers are our future.”

Elgin Energy said the solar farm would provide enough electricity to power 7,500 households, while a battery energy storage site nearby would allow surplus energy to be stored and sold to the National Grid at peak times.

The Free Press approached Elgin for comment on Mrs Gilmour’s attack but it did not respond.