MP demands answers over huge lorry plans for Lime Down Solar Park construction
Roz Savage has written to developers with "serious objections" to construction vehicle routes
Fears over huge lorries using country lanes during the construction of the proposed Lime Down Solar Park have prompted a demand for answers from the local MP.
Lib Dem Roz Savage, MP for the South Cotswolds, has written to Will Threlfall, senior project development manager of Island Green Power, raising “serious objections about the recently disclosed construction access routes.
She says it is “deeply troubling” that the “critical details” were not included in the original consultation materials.
The omission has “seriously undermined public trust,” she says.
Abnormal loads are defined as lorries that exceed the standard legal dimensions or weight limits for transportation on public roads.
For the construction of a substation and battery storage at Sherston, Island Green Power says it wants vehicles to leave the M4 at Junction 18 and follow the A46 north to the B4040, where lorries would turn right through the villages of Acton Turville and Grittleton, before heading north again to Sherston.
For the construction of the cable route corridor, the company proposes using the same route, but going straight ahead rather than turning left to reach the cable route near Grittleton.
To construct a substation and battery storage near Corston, the firm proposes taking abnormal loads off the M4 at Junction 17 (Chippenham) and heading north through Stanton St Quintin to a site east of Hullavington.
“These narrow routes,” writes the MP “would require road widening and vegetation clearance, and significant temporary works causing major and prolonged disruption.”
“Given the scale of anticipated disruption – particularly with 13 abnormal load movements involving 16-axle vehicles – there must be full transparency and public accountability going forward,” she urges.
If approved, the Lime Down Solar Park would be built at six locations in the Sherston, Hullavington, and Stanton St Quintin areas of Wiltshire, north of the M4 and south of Malmesbury.
Island Green Power says the 2,220-acre solar park would generate enough clean energy to power around 115,000 homes.
Last month hundreds of residents marched through the countryside near the proposed sites to protest against the solar park.
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.
However, the council has 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 has previously said it hopes to submit a development application by the end of the year and, if successful, wants to start construction in 2027.
The company has been approached for comment.