Villagers near Brackley holding meeting tonight (Thursday) about proposed 100-acre solar panel farm

Villagers will gather at Whitfield Village Hall from 7pm this evening (Thursday, February 13).

The meeting is an opportunity for the residents to share their concerns on the plans so that the parish council can present them to West Northamptonshire Council.

Cllr Dermot Bambridge from West Northamptonshire Council will also be attending the meeting to listen to villagers' concerns.

One concerned Whitfield resident is William Green, whose house overlooks the site of the proposed Elgin Energy solar panel farm.

He said: “We moved to the village two years ago because we wanted to live in the countryside, but this proposed solar panel farm would ruin our views completely.

“If the farm goes ahead, all we will be able to see is HS2 in the distance and four or five fields full of solar panels, so there will be no green fields in sight at all.

“Another issue is the lack of public rights of way in the village; we have HS2 and the proposed solar farm in one direction and the dual carriageway on the other side, so we feel like we are blocked in.”

Villagers are also concerned that the recent and significant development of the area around the village, which includes the solar panel farm, will impact their ability to sell their houses.

Whitfield resident Hilary Walton said: “Rest assured, this is not pure NIMBYism; I personally, indeed as do all the village, have a solar farm just over half a mile from my garden already.

“Rather this is an argument for energy companies like Elgin Energy not to have the power to make houses unsaleable by building panels and CCTV masts metres from people's bedrooms, and for the Government to listen to CPRE's (Campaign to Protect Rural England) call to ‘shout from the rooftops’, a campaign in which they are asking the government to develop a national rooftop solar target.

“It is ridiculous that acre upon acre of distribution warehouse rooftops and the like have been built down our motorways without solar panels, whilst people's livelihoods are literally ruined in the peaceful countryside.”

The plans for the proposed solar panel farm have been submitted by the international solar panel company Elgin Energy.

Elgin says it hopes to be the world’s leading solar panel company and that it is ‘leading the charge towards a sustainable future.’

When Elgin Energy submitted the proposed plans in December, it said: “Manor Farm Solar Farm will provide a reliable source of clean renewable energy that will be supplied to domestic and commercial consumers via the District Network Operator (DNO) grid network.

“The Proposed Development would contribute to local and national ‘Net Zero’ targets with an export capacity of up to 30 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy.

“The annual output of the generating station will provide enough clean electricity to meet the annual electricity demand of approximately 11,500 average family homes, with the expectation that this will increase as households become more energy efficient.”