Campaign group Village Solar Farm forms in opposition to Anglo Renewables’ Kingsclere solar farm plans

A campaign group has formed in opposition to plans to build an 86-acre solar farm on fields northwest of Kingsclere.

Energy company Anglo Renewables revealed its plans to build a solar farm on agricultural land at Strattons Farm, just off the A339, in May.

Village Solar Farm (VSF) initially formed to spread information about the development to local residents, but it has since transformed into a community group made up of Kingsclere, Ecchinswell and Ashford Hill with Headley residents that are opposed to it.

The group’s main fear is that agricultural land will be sacrificed in order to build the solar farm.

VSF member and Ecchinswell resident Camilla Trusted said: “Ultimately it’s about the fact that we need our fields for food.

“We don’t need some out of town developer come in and make money out of exploiting our beautiful countryside.”

The group’s petition against the plans has nearly reached 400 signatures.

VSF have stated they are not opposed to renewable energy, but they would rather see solar farms built on brownfield sites, placed on top of buildings or car parks rather than be developed on areas of farmland.

Mrs Trusted continued: “As a campaign group, we are very pro renewable energy and we want to promote solar power as much as possible.

“How we feel about it is that the location Anglo Renewables has chosen at Strattons Farm is fixing one emergency situation and failing another.

“We are going into a food crisis. We need our food. We need our farmland and historically the land at Strattons has always been farmland.

“It has been farmed for decades and once it’s put to solar, it will never go back to farmland. The land will be industrialised and it will never go back. I think that is a great concern for the community.”

The group also believes that if the Strattons Farm solar farm is given planning permission and built, there would be sufficient infrastructure in place to allow the development of several other solar farms in the nearby area leading to a “patchwork of solar farms in a landscape that is extremely beautiful”.

Anglo Renewables has stated that sheep will be able to graze under the solar panels if the farm is built, but VSF doubt whether this will be the case.

VSF member and Kingsclere resident Martin Openshaw added: “Although sheep are often talked about in relation to industrial solar farms we understand they are rarely used in practice and require specific management techniques.”

Anglo Renewables has also stated that the solar farm would only be a temporary development, being in operation on the land for a period of up to 40 years.

In response, Mrs Trusted said: “If it was genuinely temporary and genuinely a case that it would be put back to farmland, then I think everyone would be delighted.

“But we know that it will never go back to farmland because the cost of taking that infrastructure out is going to be colossal and in 40 years’ time, who is going to be around to protect that land.”

You can visit Village Solar Farm’s website here https://www.villagesolarfarm.co.uk/

Anglo Renewables is expected to submit a planning application for the solar farm to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council later this month.