‘They are encroaching on us from the airport way and now they are encroaching on us with this solar farm’
A North Somerset village next to an expanding airport fears being “boxed in” as now a new solar farm is planned on the other side of it.
115 hectares of fields stretching from near Redhill towards Goblin Combe could soon be used to generate electricity. But plans to install ground-mounted solar panels have caused concern among neighbours in Redhill and nearby Wrington.
Vonnie Kempster, who has lived in Redhill for the last nine years said: “It almost goes all the way to the village. The village will see it.”
She said: “I know North Somerset Council and all us living at Redhill were ridden roughshod by the airport expansion. All of us said no but they went to the government and they said yes. […] They are encroaching on us from the airport way and now they are encroaching on us with this solar farm. They are boxing us in.”
Bristol Airport was given the final go ahead to expand by the High Court last year. North Somerset Council had initially refused planning permission for the expansion on environmental grounds — only for that decision to be overturned by the planning inspectorate in a costly appeal. Campaigners later took the case all the way to the High Court.
Meanwhile the plans for a solar farm are still at an early stage. The applicants, who are not connected with the airport, have submitted a request to North Somerset Council on whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) will be needed for the work. But four people have lodged objections on the council’s online platform.
One person wrote: “The proposed site is huge — bigger than Wrington itself and this is on top of the other large solar site currently going for planning on the other side of the village.”
They added: “The area suggested is on green belt land and is between two [sites of special scientific interest] potentially making it a corridor for species. The walks that the panels will cover are really popular, and used by many people every day to walk dogs, run and enjoy. This needs a full EIA to see if it really is the best use of the land.”
Another person warned: “Solar farms are industrialising our countryside and agricultural land. Brownfield sites, car parks and houses should have solar panels.”
Ms Kempster added: “We live in a beautiful area. The airport are messing that up by expanding and now they are going to mess up the other side of us as well.”
But documents submitted with the application insisted that all trees and hedgerows would be retained, with additional planting added to increase biodiversity and “ complement and enhance the flora and fauna characteristic of this area.” The solar panels would be decommissioned after 40 years and the site returned to its current state.
A statement submitted with the application said: “The proposed development responds to the government’s support for solar energy by providing a greater renewable energy supply that would reduce carbon emissions and assist in establishing a diversity of energy sources in the UK. The biodiversity of the site would also be significantly improved.”
It added: “There is considerable natural screening around the site, provided by the local topography, mature woodland and vegetation along the field boundaries and the hedge line of the field boundaries. The proposed development will include perimeter fencing and landscape planting to screen the proposals and help assimilate into the landscape.
“Additional planting may also be required where there are ‘gaps’ within the natural screening of the landscape […]. This approach will limit the overall effect of the proposal and prevent a change from an agricultural to an industrial landscape.”
To keep the site “secure” it would be surrounded by two metre high deer fencing with 24 hour CCTV cameras mounted on holes every 50 metres.
The panels would be mounted above the ground. A “vertical farm” would also be constructed among the rest of the buildings at Hortswood Farm.