The fight against plans to build one of the country’s biggest solar parks on picturesque countryside near Malmesbury is heating up with a rally at Westminster, heavyweight opposition and an online petition.
Around 50 outraged villagers and councillors from Sherston and the surrounding area hopped onto a bus to London last week to wave banners and placards at a rally against plans for a 2,000-acre solar park across six locations in Wiltshire.
Organised by UK Solar Alliance, the demo took place at Parliament Square on Thursday while a debate about large-scale solar farms was held inside Westminster Hall.
This follows growing opposition in the Malmesbury area over plans by Island Green Power for solar panels at six locations including Sherston, Hullavington and Stanton St Quintin to form one giant Lime Down Solar Park project which would then be connected to the National Grid at Melksham.
Island Green says that the project would generate 500 megawatts of solar power, enough to power around 115,000 homes.
It is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project so will bypass Wiltshire Council and will need approval from a government planning inspector.
However, opponents are concerned about the impact it would have on the landscape, agricultural land and natural habitats.
More than 14,000 people have signed an online petition set up by the Stop Lime Down Solar Park campaign group.
A spokesperson for the campaign group said: “There was a real sense of community and determination at the rally.
“We were very impressed that North Wiltshire MP James Gray and Andrew Bowie, minister for energy security and net zero, came out to meet us all.
“Mr Gray been very vocal in his opposition to the plans and support of Stop Lime Down and spoke brilliantly in the debate highlighting all the issues.
“Our campaign is gaining significant momentum, and we can’t get over the support and widespread objection to industrialising the countryside.”
During the solar farm debate, Mr Gray said: “My instinct is that we are at a tipping point and that the government has realised that what they have achieved is a huge concreting over of our countryside in very largely Conservative-represented constituencies, such as mine.”
Mr Gray also described the project as an ‘absolutely disgraceful proposal’ during oral questions to Mr Bowie in the Commons last week.
He said: “If the minister had wanted to see the impact that a massive solar farm, such as the so-called Lime Down carbuncle in my constituency, will have on local people, he should have come to the public meeting I called in Malmesbury Town Hall, where 750 people were protesting against this appalling plan in North Wiltshire.
“It is going to be 2,000 acres of panels, three million panels, 5,000 acres blighted, and 30 miles to the nearest connection down at Melksham. It is an absolutely disgraceful proposal.”
A spokesperson for Island Green said: “We acknowledge and respect the concerns raised by the local communities about the potential impact Lime Down Solar Park could have on the rural landscape of north Wiltshire.
“We want to ensure people living and working in the area have a chance to inform and influence the development of our proposals from an early stage – so it’s really important that as many people as possible take part in this consultation to share their views with us on our proposed scheme.”
To give your feedback on the project visit tinyurl.com/ycbncryn
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