‘Solar factory’ protestors to take their message to County Hall
The group are campaigning against the proposed Lime Down Solar Farm between Chippenham and Malmesbury
Residents opposed to sprawling ‘solar factory’ development in the countryside between Malmesbury and Chippenham will be taking their protest to Wiltshire’s County Hall next week.
Stop Lime Down is opposed to the planned construction of a 2,220-acre solar farm spread across six locations around Hullavington, Stanton St Quintin, Sherston, and Luckington.
The protesters insist they are not opposed to solar power, but are concerned at the “industrial scale” of the solar farms proposed.
They have the backing of their MP, Roz Savage (Lib Dem, South Cotswolds). She has raised concerns about the potential chaos that would be caused by abnormal loads – lorries that exceed the standard legal dimensions or weight limits for transportation on public roads – using narrow country lanes to reach the construction sites.
She has also raised concerns about the ownership of developer Island Green Power with energy secretary Ed Miliband. The company is owned by former Thames Water owner Macquarie Asset Management.
Island Green Power says the solar arrays would generate 500 megawatts of electricity – enough to power around 115,000 homes.
The six sites would be connected to the National Grid’s Melksham Substation through underground cabling – which would have to be channelled under the M4.
The company says the project would “support national and regional aims to decarbonise our electricity systems and bolster our energy security”.
The proposed development is due to be discussed at Wiltshire Council’s full council meeting next Tuesday, July 22.
However, councillors will not get to decide on the matter.
Because the capacity of the proposed development is over 50 megawatts, the project is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.
This means permission for the scheme will need to come from Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband rather than Wiltshire Council.
The council has, though, voiced its opposition, saying in March this year: “To see that much farmland converted and the essential industrialisation of the countryside provides good grounds for refusal.”
Island Green Power says it hopes to submit a development application by the end of the year and, if successful, wants to start construction in 2027.
Recently-published figures from the `Department for Energy Security and Net Zero suggest that Wiltshire is already in the UK’s top ten of counties where solar energy is produced.
With 1,474 megawatts of electricity being generated, the county is in eighth place.