Botley West Solar Farm would be 'ocean of glass and steel'

A planned solar farm would create an "ocean of glass and steel", objectors have said.

Botley West Solar Farm could span three sites - north of Woodstock, west of Kidlington and west of Botley.

Opponents of the Oxfordshire scheme said the farm on 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of land was a "massive concern".

Developer Photovolt Development Partners (PVDP) said it was "listening to concerns" and working on feedback from a consultation.

PVDP said the solar farm would be able to power up to 330,000 homes.

Themis Avraamides, of Central Woodstock Residents Association, said: "Solar panels should be on roofs, not fields.

"The people of Oxfordshire need to stand up and protect their environment against this relentless onslaught, at the expense of our beautiful green spaces, before they all disappear unnecessarily and simply for profit."

Responding to concerns about the farm's size, Mark Owen-Lloyd, of PVDP, said: "We are all looking at this from above, we are not looking at this from the farm gates.

"We will be placing this within the existing field structure. We are not 'not' listening to concerns."

Robert Courts, Conservative MP for Witney, said that after speaking to residents in the affected area "people are happy to have solar farms to an extent - they can be very helpful for communities - but it's the sheer scale of this that really causes people such massive concern."

He said he planned to undertake his own consultation exercise on the proposals with local residents.

Ian Hudspeth, former leader of Oxfordshire County Council who lives in one of the areas included in the proposals, said: "If you talk to people they say that 'yes we do need sustainable energy' but when you actually talk about the sheer scale and size of this proposal people are just horrified by it.

"There will be an ocean of glass and steel everywhere."

PVDP said reports from the consultation, which ran until 22 December - including the Preliminary Environmental Information Report, were expected to be published in eight weeks' time.

Mr Owen-Lloyd said: "And then we will go out to a second stat consultation and people can have their say all over again."

PVDP said it expected to submit a Development Consent Order by the winter.

The scheme will decided by the government, via the Planning Inspectorate, and not by local councils.

If it gets the go-ahead from the Secretary of State, building is expected to start in the summer of 2025.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].