MELKSHAM Without Parish Council, Melksham Town Council and Bromham Parish Council have all voted unanimously in favour of the solar farm at their recent planning meetings; with only Seend Parish Council voting against, by a narrow margin of 5 to 4.
The project site is located within Melksham Without Parish, and Melksham is approximately 1km away, whilst Seend village lies over 2km from the site.
The project has not received any objections from statutory consultees, including Natural England, English Heritage and the Environment Agency as it complies with national and local planning policy and guidelines.
St.John Hughes, director of Sandridge Solar Power said, “We’re delighted with the support shown for the project from the local parishes, who represent a very large proportion of the local community. Throughout this process there’s been a good level of support expressed directly from members of the public too. We understand some people have concerns, so we have done our best to address any misinformation promptly to ensure the facts are out there.”
At a public exhibition held in October, over 60% of people who commented said they support the Sandridge Solar Farm proposal. Around 90% said they supported the use of solar power as a source of renewable energy and it was rated top of a list of UK energy sources, including nuclear, coal and wind.
Should the solar farm be developed, a community fund of £44,000 per year would be set up and independently managed to fund local projects bringing economic, environmental or social benefits to the community.
Sandridge Solar Farm would be comprised of 67 hectares of land between Sandridge Farm, Manor Farm and Tanhouse Farm, south of the A3102. Up to 170,000 solar PV panels would be used to generate 44MWp, which would provide enough electricity to power the equivalent of all of the properties in Melksham (approximately 12,000). This capacity would provide approximately 10% of Wiltshire’s target of installing 367MW of renewable electricity by 2020.
The renewable electricity generated would be exported to the grid, and save up to 504,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions over the 25-year lifetime of the project.
The land where the solar farm will be built is very low-grade agricultural land (grade 4), and it will continue to be used for agricultural production, with sheep grazing around the solar panels. Measures to significantly enhance the ecology of the land will also be implemented.
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 and recycled.
A decision is expected in February 2014. Any questions about the project can be sent to Sandridge Solar Power via info@sandridge-solar.co.uk and a website is also available: www.sandridge-solar.co.uk
