Duke in row over solar farm near Highgrove
Protesters are concerned 2,000-acre greenfield project near King’s estate will blight countryside
‘This shouldn’t just be about a situation where a bunch of farmers have been offered a load of cash’
‘This is all agricultural land... It’s a rich ecosystem, which we are trying to preserve’
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 former 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 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 between the market towns of Malmesbury, Tetbury and Chippenham.
The Duke, 71, who is worth an estimated £300 million, is friends with the monarch, 75, whose private residence is nine miles away.
Tracy Ward, the Duke’s former wife, is among those objecting to the scheme, which is in the consultation stage. “Solar panels should be on roofs, along motorways, or industrial sites,” she said. “Land should be for growing food, not profits for a few landowners, manufacturers and investors.”
She said that it “will destroy the area for local walkers and riders, tourists and biodiversity”.
Lime Down Solar Park claims would “contribute towards government targets to reach net zero by 2050” and could provide “enough clean affordable electricity to power about 115,000 homes”.
It 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, 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: “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.”
Amid claims that 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: “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 farm has served its purpose.
Lime Down’s developer is a London-based company named Island Green Power, which is reported to have developed more than 1 gigawatt of renewable energy assets, predominantly in the UK and Spain.
It is chaired by Bertie Ahern, the taoiseach of Ireland from 1997 to 2008.
Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary under David Cameron, is its former director.
She served as an Island Green Power consultant between September 2021 and June 2022, despite campaigning against proposals to install solar panels in her Hastings and Rye constituency in 2019. She argued at the time that solar expansion should not come “at the expense of our natural environment”.
Ms Rudd said she had not had any contact with Island Green since she left in 2022, shortly after it was announced that Macquarie Asset Management had reached an agreement to acquire a 50 per cent stake in the company.
James Gray, Conservative MP for North Wiltshire, who is against the scheme, has blamed “Wall Street hooligans” for inflicting it on his constituency and believes that a British company would deal with the community more sensitively. Natasha Worrall, the protect development manager, said that it would “boost and enhance local wildlife by delivering a net gain in biodiversity”. 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.