Residents launch campaign against solar farm plans

Campaigners are concerned about the loss of farmland

Residents and farmers on the Somerset Levels have joined forces to oppose a proposed 146-acre solar farm.

They are concerned about the loss of farmland, as well as the impact the construction and manufacture of the panels could have on the environment.

If approved, the work would be an extension of an existing solar farm between Ashcott, Pedwell and Nythe.

The BBC has contacted the landowner, and the applicant, Elgin Energy, for comment.

Anthony Lipman said he would rather have wind turbines on the land

Local parish councils have voted against the application and the deadline for making comments on the proposals to planning authority Somerset Council is 11 April.

Resident, Anthony Lipman, told BBC Radio Somerset that he believes solar farms are carbon intensive and wind turbines would be preferable.

"What bothers me are the carbon credentials of solar," he said.

"Just to make a solar panels, you've got to turn quartz or sand into silicon and plaster the countryside with that.

"It's hugely carbon intensive."

Mr Lipman added that roads in the area are unsuitable for HGVs, which would be needed during construction.

Dairy farmer Sam Small said she had been approached by solar companies about her land

Sam Small, a dairy farmer next to the proposed solar farm site said she had been approached by solar companies offering her "very good" money to build on her land.

But she had turned them down as she does not want to "ruin" the area with solar panels.

"The land should be preserved for food production," she said.

"The beauty of the Somerset Levels is you can grow grass here all year round. We have great, rich, peaty soil.

"We have fields that would be surrounded on all sides by panels. We have a lot of animals out and we have rhynes (watercourses) on each side.

"Should an animal go into the rhyne, we would have trouble getting to the other side to save it because we would be denied access... it would make life very difficult."