National park solar farm plan turned down

Enviromena Project Management UK Ltd had applied to place more than 12,000 solar panels at Thornlands Farm

An application to build a solar farm on a site the size of nearly 14 football pitches inside the New Forest national park has been refused.

Enviromena Project Management UK Ltd had applied to place more than 12,000 solar panels and two sub stations at a 9.85-hectare site at Thornlands Farm, Netley Marsh.

New Forest National Park Authority planning committee heard it went against national policy.

The company's application stated it would provide about 6MW of renewable energy to the National Grid, enough to power 2,450 homes per year.

It said the development would be in the "least tranquil" part of the New Forest.

Any impact would be "highly localised and limited" and could be "outweighed by socio-economic and environmental benefits", it added.

The National Park Authority (NPA) took the view that the scale of the solar panels would constitute "major development" that would normally be refused within a national park.

The authority said the application also did not adequately show that there would be no impact on wildlife and habitats and did not take into account the grazing needs of commoners' livestock.

The NPA insisted it supported renewable energy schemes, including solar, "that are consistent with the emphasis on small-scale developments".