By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
A plan backed by the Duke of Beaufort to build a 2,000-acre solar farm near the King’s Highgrove estate has sparked a row with residents including his environmentalist ex-wife.
Protesters claim that the Lime Down Solar Park scheme, which is designed to generate 500 megawatts of clean energy will blight swaths of the countryside near the Fosse Way, a Roman road.
Part of the farm will be housed on the Duke’s 52,000-acre Badminton estate in Gloucestershire – as well as on land in a triangle between the market towns of Malmesbury, Tetbury and Chippenham.
Nicknamed “Bunter of Badminton”, the Duke, 71, who is worth an estimated £300 million, is friends with the monarch, 75, whose private residence is nine miles down the road.
Tracy Ward, the Duke’s ex-wife, is among those objecting to the scheme, which is currently in the consultation stage.
“I totally oppose all large-scale solar parks,” she said. “Solar panels should be on roofs, along motorways, or industrial sites. Land should be for growing food, not profits for a few landowners, manufacturers and investors.”
Claiming it “will destroy the area for local walkers and riders, tourists and biodiversity”, she added: “Be careful what the climate change fear-mongering will lull us into accepting.”
Lime Down Solar Park claims it would “contribute towards government targets to reach net zero by 2050” and could provide “enough clean affordable electricity to power around 115,000 homes”.
he project is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project because the capacity of the proposed development is over 50 megawatts.
This means permission for the scheme will need to come from Claire Coutinho, the Secretary of State for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, rather than Wiltshire council.
Alex Frost, the chief executive of the UK Tote Group, is among residents of the affected village of Sherston who have been objecting to the proposals.
He said: “There’s absolutely not a Nimby [not in my back yard] element to this. People around here are actually very pro-renewables but the Government’s own guidelines state that these sorts of developments should occupy brownfield sites, not greenfield.
“This is all agricultural land, it borders the Fosse Way, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It’s an extraordinarily rich ecosystem, which we are trying to preserve. It’s right next door to Highgrove.”
Amid claims farmers have been offered in excess of £1,000 per acre per year to rent their land – five times the return that might be expected from farming – he added: “We know solar farms are important but this should be a well thought out and proper process rather than just a situation where a bunch of farmers have been offered a load of cash – it’s an absolute shambles.”
Protesters also fear that the development, comprising three and a half square miles of 14ft-high solar panels surrounded by security fencing and floodlights, will be turned into housing once the solar farm has served its purpose.
A spokesman for the Duke of Beaufort said: “The estate’s decision is commercial and aligns with government guidance that the development of low-carbon infrastructure, such as solar farms, is a critical national priority.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/01/solar-farm-near-highgrove-estate-sparks-row/
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Bunter might pretend he is saving the planet, but I am sure £1000 per acre rent had nothing to do with his decision!
The point made about what happens when the solar farm reaches the end of its life in 15 years time is a very pertinent one. Maybe the panels will be left to rot, but it will prove much harder to prevent the land being used for houses once it has desecrated.
Given the almost unanimous opposition from locals, the fact that govt guidelines clearly state solar farms should ideally use “previously developed land, brownfield sites, contaminated or industrial land”, and the devastating environmental damage which will inevitably follow, this is surely an ideal opportunity for King Charles to prove his green credentials.
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Author: Paul Homewood
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