Hardy country upset by £300m solar farm

CONSERVATIONISTS have criticised plans for a solar panel farm in part of Dorset where £116million was spent to remove electricity pylons to improve the countryside.

The proposed site of the 1,400-acre project, is at Chickerell, an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Dorset council has set a target for the county to be carbon neutral by 2040, and the £300million solar farm would help. However, the plans have been criticised by residents, countryside campaigners and the Hardy Society, since the landscape under threat inspired Thomas Hardy’s novels.

Guy Dickinson, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “I can’t believe it. This plan is right where millions were just spent improving the landscape.”

Critics say panels should be put on houses rather than on farmland.

But the developers, Statera, said: “There is simply not enough roof space even if it was practical to deploy it on all buildings.”