Lime Down Solar Park: buffer zone added to design following feedback

Plans for a 2,000-acre solar park have been tweaked following concerns raised by residents.

Lime Down Solar Park, which is to be built in rural north Wiltshire, has been unpopular with many people in the area who are concerned about the impact on the landscape and farmland.

The developer, Island Green Power, said it has now added a 44-hectare (about 109 acres) buffer zone between the solar panels and sensitive areas after listening to feedback.

Will Threlfall, senior project development manager, said he wanted to “keep the area as beautiful as possible.”

Mr Threlfall told the BBC that the adjustment would not mean an increase in capacity for the solar park, which will aim to create 500MW of clean energy.

Due to its size, it is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) and must be dealt with by the Planning Inspectorate rather than the local authority, Wiltshire Council.

Island Green Power has submitted an environmental impact assessment to the inspectorate for the project, which it says could power more than 115,000 homes annually.

Mr Threlfall said the buffer zone “allows us to move it away from sensitive areas”.

“There’s a lot of flexibility. We’re working with a landscape, we’re studying a landscape, and that’s essential to the size of the project that can actually be,” he added.

He explained that the company received a “substantial” amount of feedback and went through it “thoroughly”.

“People are affected by these schemes. It’s up to us as developers to be as responsible as possible,” Mr Threlfall said.

Campaign group Stop Lime Down is concerned about how such a large development will affect the landscape, which includes Cotswolds heritage features such as the Fosse Way, as well as footpaths and houses.

“It’s important to reassure people that the scheme is designed to protect such features,” Mr Threlfall said.

Former Tory MP for the area, James Gray, described it as “monstrous destruction” and current MP, Liberal Democrat Roz Savage, does not think the environmental impact assessment goes far enough.

“I accept that Island Green is listening to local concerns. The model we have across the country is fundamentally flawed,” she added.

Statutory public consultation will take place in early 2025 and the earliest construction could start is 2027.

Island Green Power plans to hold more public engagement events in the coming months.