Objections to plans for Kemberton green belt solar farm

The solar farm would be built on fields currently used by an organic dairy farmer

More than 100 people have objected to a planned solar farm on green belt land.

Swedish renewable energy company Vattenfall has applied to install solar panels on two fields at Kemberton, Shropshire, covering an area of almost 20 hectares (49 acres).

It said there was a shortage of substations in Shropshire, and the site was chosen because of its proximity to a substation at Halesfield, Telford.

Many of the complaints were over the visual impact of the solar farm.

People also raised concerns about the loss of green belt land, the loss of productive farmland, the risk of flooding and the possibility of glare from the solar panels.

Berrys, the agents acting for the company, carried out consultation with people in the area and noted most of those asked did not raise concerns about noise or traffic and most said they agreed in principle with the need for more renewable energy.

But the agents said many were surprised that a solar farm could be built on green belt land and asked for it to be built somewhere else instead.

The fields are within 150m of the Kemberton conservation area and 127 letters of objection have been received by the local authority.

They ask for the solar farm to be sited on brownfield land instead and raise concerns that if this application is approved, more will follow.

Vattenfall said a solar farm must be built within 3km (1.8 miles) of the Halesfield substation to be viable and that only green belt land was available.

All other locations were already developed, earmarked for housing, or within the the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, it said.

The proposed solar farm would produce enough electricity to power 6,000 homes, the applicants said.