Huge solar farm plan 'positive and negative'

Campaigners protested against the solar farm outside West Oxfordshire District Council's Witney HQ on Monday

A council's views on plans to build one of Europe's largest solar farms have been drafted ahead of being submitted to the government's Planning Inspectorate.

West Oxfordshire District Council's submission regarding the Botley West Solar Farm proposal was discussed by the authority's Development Control Committee at a meeting on Monday.

The document sites the scale of the project as creating a "potential for significant and widespread positive and negative impacts".

Botley West is a proposed £800m solar farm, covering about 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of Oxfordshire countryside, with 90% of it owned by Blenheim Estates.

The project is considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, meaning the application must be considered by the government, not local councils.

As part of the planning process, relevant parties, including the local authorities in which the development sits, can submit their response to the plans.

The solar farm would cover about 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres)

Ahead of the committee meeting, Andy Graham, leader of West Oxfordshire District Council, said the authority would submit a "well-considered, evidence-based response".

"By taking this approach, we can make a properly informed and impactful submission that will carry more weight," he said.

Mr Graham added the council had "worked closely with local communities" in forming its response.

The authority's drafted submission predominantly discusses the environmental impact of the proposed solar farm.

It questions the use of greenbelt land around Oxford, adding the development would "result in a fundamental change to the landscape character" in an area that is currently "attractive rural countryside".

Photovolt Development Partners (PVDP) submitted its plan for the site to the Planning Inspectorate in November.

PVDP has said, if approved, the facility would generate 840MW of renewable energy to the National Grid - enough to power the equivalent of 330,000 homes.

"There's a bit of democratic deficit here," Calum Miller, the MP for Bicester and Woodstock, said.

"This is a national strategic infrastructure project but as a result the decision will be taken a long way away from the residents of the area that will be most affected.

"I want to see their voices reflected, in particular when it comes to the community benefits that should go alongside any renewables project," he added.

"The amount that's been offered by the developers in my view is derisory."