Campaigners vow to fight solar farm appeal

Campaigners have vowed to fight a solar farm appeal as they claim the project will destroy farmland.

Bath and North East Somerset Council (Banes) refused permission for the 28.2-hectare (70 acre) solar farm in Burnett, near Keynsham, last year.

The developer, Conrad Energy II Ltd, is now appealing the authority's decision. Chiefs claim the project will create enough energy to power 5,500 homes annually and would still have room for sheep to graze on the fields.

A public consultation into the appeal is under way until 4 May.

The council initially received 41 objections against the site on Burnett Hill and Middlepiece Lane.

People complained the proposals threatened the loss of agricultural land, landscape and local ecology.

"The fields are very open, there is no screening to them at all and, in fact, the panels would all be running along the top of a prominent hill scarp," said resident Richard Arthur.

Potential flooding was also cited as an issue.

"In heavy storms the rain will saturate the ground immediately below the panels, that'll run into hills and there will be a lot more surface water," he added.

A Banes spokesperson said at the time that "significant weight was given to the need for renewable energy, but in this case, with the site location and scale of the development, the harm to the landscape would not be outweighed by the benefits identified".

Conrad Energy said the project would provide clean, renewable energy to the national grid.

"Ecological enhancements are at the heart of it.

"We carefully considered locations to allow the site to continue to be used for agriculture, with the panels designed to allow sheep to graze on the fields below.

"The project is fully reversible, so at the end of its operational life, the panels will be removed, leaving the land around Middlepiece Lane with enhanced biodiversity and an improved local ecosystem as a result," a spokesperson added.

Banes has been approached for comment.

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