A CAMPAIGN has been launched to stop a 132-acre solar-energy farm being built on agricultural land at Washford.

A 40-strong protest group claims the massive development will blight the area and drive away tourists.

And two farmers who would lose land if the project goes ahead say they intend to oppose planning applications when the scheme comes before West Somerset Council.

London-based firm Elgin Energy is seeking to build the solar farm in fields north of Washford owned by the Wyndham Estate, stretching as far east as Tropiquaria Zoo. It would power 7,500 homes a year during its 30-year lifespan.

At a public consultation at Washford Memorial Hall last Thursday, more than 200 people saw plans for the scheme and questioned members of the Elgin Energy project team.

“The local reaction seemed to be very anti the plans,” said local farm agent David Hosegood.

David Chadwick, who runs Washford’s Monkscider House Bed and Breakfast with his wife Jan, is co-ordinating the new protest group. He said many of the members were from the Five Bells area of Watchet whose houses would look directly onto the solar farm.

“It will be seen from as far away as Staple Plain, West Quantoxhead and the Brendon Hills.

“No-one is against solar energy, but the overpowering scale of the proposed scheme is completely inappropriate for the area.

“We are now putting together a strategy which we believe will make a convincing case against the project.”

A tenant of the Wyndham Estate’s Kentsford Farm, alongside the Mineral Line, Robert Dibble said he stands to lose 65 acres – a quarter of his arable land.

“No-one seems to have made any attempt to see what effect these plans will have on me because it will leave some of my land at Washford effectively cut off from the rest of the farm, needing us to make a two and a half mile journey along the main road.

“It would also be almost impossible to move wide machinery.”

Mr Dibble said the situation was causing distress to his family: “Ultimately, if the farm’s not viable we’re out of our home."

Richard Burnell, whose family has run the Wyndham Estate’s Parsonage Farm on the outskirts of Watchet since 1948, said he would lose 28 per cent of his arable land to the solar project.

“There are plenty of other sites which would not involve good agricultural land and would not be so obtrusive. This one will be seen from miles around,”he said.

No one from Elgin Energy was available for comment but, in an information leaflet distributed at the consultation, the company claimed the solar farm would be “clean, quiet and visually unobtrusive”.

If the solar farm goes ahead, Elgin Energy estimates that it could be built in 16 weeks with construction traffic using an existing access road off the B3190.

Williton Parish Council, which includes some of the proposed site in its area, has asked Elgin Energy to organise another consultation for Williton residents.

Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.

Full report in the Free Press.