Solar farm work begins after long planning fight

Construction has started on a solar farm in Hothfield which will be the size of 13 football pitches.

Diggers are at the land north of Oaklands Farm in Pluckley Road as multi-national construction company OPDE have started work on the plant.

The £7 million development has been through years of planning controversy after an initial proposal by developers Haymakers Ltd was refused by Ashford Borough Council (ABC) in September 2013.

Councillors said it would be detrimental to countryside views and would destroy green belt land.

But a revised proposal for a site half the size was submitted in March 2014.

ABC received 67 letters of objection to the new plans and 28 in support and the application was approved in April 2014.

The 6.9MWp solar farm in Hothfield is scheduled to be connected to the grid by December 2014 and will generate enough electricity to power approximately 1,850 homes in the UK.

Hothfield Parish Council voted in favour of supporting the application on condition the developers agreed to put up more natural screening to make the site more discreet and plant tree belts with wild flowers.

Resident Mike Chandler, who was initially against the development but supported the revised application, says the process has been difficult but villagers did achieve a level of compromise.

He said residents were also promised a covenant to ensure there would be no further development but he is now starting to worry that despite construction being under way, there is no sign of the official agreement.

He said: “I am a little worried that the covenant has not been registered against the application yet but I’m sure it is just because it is not a priority for them.

“However this agreement played a large part in our acceptance of the new plans and so they must stick to their word. It may not be important for them but it is very important for us.

“I will be chasing this up to see why it has not been completed yet. Everything else is pushing forward so that should too.”

Developers OPDE will add the new site to their growing UK portfolio, including a 8.9MWp solar farm in East Sussex and a 12 MWp plant in Alresford, Hampshire.

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Mike Chandler at the site of the solar farm, which is now being built