Public support for Melksham solar farm to power 12,000 homes

RENEWABLE energy developer, Sandridge Solar Power, recently held a public exhibition on proposals for a 40MWp solar farm to the east of Melksham.

Sandridge Solar Farm would be located on 67 hectares of land between Sandridge Farm, Manor Farm and Tanhouse Farm, around 1km east of Melksham, and south of the A3102. It would have the capacity to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of all of the properties in Melksham (approximately 12,000).

Local residents and stakeholders were invited to a drop-in public exhibition at Melksham Town Hall on Wednesday 23rd October, to view and comment on the proposals. Around 70 people attended the event, with 51 completing a consultation questionnaire.

31 of those who filled in a form said they support the Sandridge Solar Farm proposal, with 13 stating they were opposed. 44 people said they support the use of solar power as a source of renewable energy. Solar was also rated top of a list of UK energy sources, including nuclear, coal and wind.

St.John Hughes, director of Sandridge Solar Power said, “We’re very pleased with the turnout to the exhibition and it was a useful exercise in terms of meeting members of the community and answering their questions. It’s great to see there is good support for the solar farm.

“People certainly recognise the need for renewable energy sources and also seemed pleased to see the biodiversity benefits the project will bring, such as the grassland meadows that will increase the attractiveness of the site to wildlife such as insects and birds. The main concern raised was to do with the potential visual impact of the solar farm. Whilst the site is already very well screened by hedgerows and trees, we have plans to carry out some infill planting to bolster this screening. We have produced 11 photomontages to show what the solar farm could look like from various local viewpoints, the locations of which were agreed with the landscape officer of the council. Only from one of these viewpoints can the solar panels actually be seen, and this relating to only a minor part of the site.  As a result of the public consultation, we will also be producing an additional photomontage to show what the solar farm would look like from a public footpath at Seend; and we will share this with residents of Seend when it is ready.”

Visitors to the exhibition were also asked for suggestions for local initiatives that could benefit from a substantial community fund. This fund would be managed locally and used to fund projects bringing economic, environmental or social benefits to the community. It would provide around £40,000 per year for the 25-year lifetime of the solar farm, based on the proposed 40MWp scheme (£1,000 per megawatt per year). Sandridge Solar Farm would save up to 420,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions over the 25-year lifetime of the project.  It would contribute more than 10% of Wiltshire’s own renewable energy target of installing 367MW of renewable electricity by 2020.  The renewable electricity generated by the solar farm would be exported to the grid.

The solar farm will not take the site out of agricultural use or food production – sheep will continue to graze the land, around the solar panels.  The solar farm would take between approximately three to four months to build. Access to the site would be from the A3102.  The solar farm would be decommissioned after 25 years and all panels, frames and associated parts removed.

Sandridge Solar Power is now considering the feedback received and will be updating the local community on the proposal shortly. Comments and questions can still be sent to the project team via info@sandridge-solar.co.uk.

The pre-application public consultation period expired on 5th November, with the planning application being finalised and submitted to Wiltshire Council later in the year. Once the planning application has been submitted, the council will open up a further period of public consultation.