Locals 'shocked, angry and scared' by solar farm plan

People living near the proposed site of a huge new solar farm have told the BBC they are "shocked, angry and very scared" by the plans.

Developer Low Carbon said the 2,400 acre West Oxfordshire Energy Plant (WOEP) would produce 500MW - enough electricity to power 145,000 homes.

Three of the UK's biggest solar farms are now being planned for Oxfordshire, with the government considering the proposal for the 840MW Botley West project, and another 500MW solar farm proposed for Wantage area.

Low Carbon said it was "here to listen" to local concerns, and that there would be a public consultation in the new year.

But Michael Ergatoudis, whose home in Grafton backs onto the proposed site, said residents were "very shocked" to "suddenly find that we'll be living in an ocean of solar panels".

Meanwhile, Kate Eavis said she was feeling "pretty anxious" that the scheme would be built next to her home in Little Faringdon.

"The countryside around here is very much a part of my daily life and I feel that that is going to be taken away and replaced by effectively a sort of industrial landscape," she said.

By 2030 the government wants at least 95% of Britain's electricity to come from "clean" sources, including renewables – such as solar and wind – and nuclear energy.

Last year, solar energy provided more than 6% of Britain's electricity – rising to more than 40% for a small number of half-hour periods in July.

Because the development would generate more than 100MW of power, it will bypass the usual planning route - with a decision instead resting with the energy secretary and Planning Inspectorate.

Jim Johnston, from Langford, said he was not "anti-solar" but was concerned by the scale of the plans.

"What's proposed will completely transform an agricultural and rural environment to an industrial one," he said.

Fellow Langford resident Tom Marshall agreed that he had "no objection to a small solar farm or a field with solar panels in it".

"But when it completely surrounds your village and other villages in the area, then that's a different thing altogether."

The number of landowners contributing to WOEP is currently unknown, but some UK farmers see solar as a profitable alternative to agriculture or raising livestock.

Ed Perrin, Low Carbon's development director, said the firm had "already undertaken a number of surveys" over the past year and was "already getting a good understanding of the nature that exists within the site at present".

"Our design process is about ensuring that nature and landscape impacts are considered right from the outset, it's very much a nature and landscape-led design," he said.

"Our objective at Low Carbon is to make sure that our projects have a better environment than we started with."

Low Carbon said it was looking to submit a planning application for the site by the end of 2027, and hoped to start construction "in the early part of the next decade".

But Langford resident George Leavey said the firm would encounter "a lot of determined people here who are going to really work together as a community and really fight this thing".

He added: "I think everyone here is up for the fight."