Developer offers £50,000 to landowners to not object to solar farm

Island Green Power has offered landowners up to £50,000 to secure access for the UK’s largest proposed solar farm, contingent on their agreement not to object to the project near Chippenham, Wiltshire.

The developer’s Lime Down Solar Park plans include burying cables across farms, prompting around 45 letters to be sent to farmers, as seen by The Telegraph.

The letters, part of agreements lasting up to five years, required recipients not to object to the scheme and to write to energy secretary Ed Miliband, withdrawing any previous objections.

See also: Doncaster councillors back call to avoid solar on farmland

Island Green Power has since admitted the condition “should not have been included” and promised to send corrected versions of the offer.

Wiltshire Council opposed the Lime Down plan in July.

Speaking to The Telegraph, councillor Martin Smith criticised the developer’s approach, describing the letters as “almost akin to bribery”.

He accused the firm of trying “to trample over the democratic process and the people being affected.”

A farmer who received the initial letter described feeling “threatened” and said recipients felt they had “no option but to sign”.

Large scale

If approved, Lime Down Solar Park would cover more than 800ha over five sites, making it the largest solar farm in the UK.

Campaign group Stop Lime Down note that arable land in the UK is declining.

And that the farmland planned for development is 30% “best and most versatile” farmland. 

The project includes a 14-mile cable route connecting to the National Grid, with solar sites surrounding Norton village and impacting nearby communities including Alderton, Corston, Foxley, Grittleton, Hullavington, Rodbourne, Sherston, and Malmesbury.

An Island Green Power spokesperson told The Telegraph: “The wording on objecting to the project is not in our standard heads of terms and should not have been included.

“Heads of terms are voluntary agreements, and landowners are not obliged to sign them.

“However, any who choose to sign will also be able to object to the project and make representations to the Planning Inspectorate if that is what they wish to do.”