Land near airport removed from solar farm plans

The government is currently considering the Botley West Solar Farm plans

A portion of land near an airport will no longer be included in plans for one of Europe's largest solar farms.

Botley West Solar Farm will cover about 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of countryside at three sites in west Oxfordshire if approved.

Developers Photo Vault Development Partners (PVDP) said it had now scaled the proposal back by 10 hectares - equivalent to about 16 football pitches - after Oxford Airport raised concerns about building on land that could potentially be needed in the event of an emergency landing.

The £800m development has been designated as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and is currently being evaluated by the government.

It would see panels installed in countryside north of Woodstock, west of Kidlington and west of Botley.

PDVP said it would now not be installing solar panels on "sensitive areas" identified for potential emergency landings by aircraft operating from Oxford Airport.

"We have... agreed to remove panels from areas identified as particularly sensitive, in direct response to local concerns," Mark Owen-Lloyd, director of Botley West Solar Farm, said.

"These changes reflect our commitment to working in partnership and cooperation with the communities around Botley West and ensuring the project delivers real, lasting benefits where they are most needed," he added.

The developers also announced that it had doubled its community benefit fund to £440,000 a year following discussions with local groups.

It suggested the investment could be used to upgrade community facilities, develop youth and skills programmes and to support local sustainability initiatives.

The announcements come in the same week that West Oxfordshire District Council said the development would cause "major harm lasting generations" and should be "dramatically reduced" in size.

The comments, which included that the proposals were "detrimental" to the area, came in the council's final written submission to the government.

PVDP said it disagreed with the local authority and had made several changes to the proposed locations of solar panels.