Plans submitted for controversial solar farm

Stop Lime Down posters are a regular sight in the surrounding villages

A planning application has been submitted to build a controversial solar farm on more than 2,000 acres (809 hectares) of countryside.

Island Green Power wants to build Lime Down Solar Park on land north of the M4 near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, and says it will provide energy to power 115,000 homes a year.

The farm, which would span six villages including Hullavington, Stanton St Quintin, Sherston and Luckington, has been criticised by councillors and also campaigners over fears it would create a "permanent scar" on the landscape.

Due to the scale of the plans, permission will be decided by Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband.

Mr Miliband has already approved other big solar schemes, with the government aiming to achieve 95% clean energy in the UK by 2030.

Lime Down Solar Park would be four miles wide (6.4km) and two miles (3.2km) deep, with solar panels that would stand at 14.7ft (4.5m) tall - the height of a double decker bus and a UK-first, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A number of battery storage systems would also be built as part of the scheme, one the height of a five-storey building.

A 196ft (60m) wide corridor for a 12.4m (20km) cable to the substation in Melksham would also be built, passing under the M4 and the Bristol-to-London railway line.

The solar farm would span more than 2,000 acres of countryside

Wiltshire councillors, who will not get a chance to vote on the proposals, described the scheme as a "solar factory" and criticised the "industrial" nature of the design.

During a meeting in July to discuss the plans, Sherston councillor Martin Smith said Lime Down Solar Park would "create an industrialised landscape to evolve into a permanent scar on the county's countryside".

Protesters gathered outside the council's headquarters in Trowbridge

The Planning Inspectorate is expected to decide if it can accept the application for examination by 17 October.

The application will then go through several stages - which could take more than a year - before construction work begins.

The decision can be appealed and grounds for a judicial review can be reviewed at the High Court.