A CAMPAIGN group who are in opposition of a huge solar farm being built near their small village in Somerset have taken the issue to Parliament.
The SOS Levels group hope to put a stop to a proposal to construct a 591,000 square metre solar farm near the village of Pedwell, between Bridgwater and Street.
Anthony Lipman, a resident of Pedwell and a member of SOS Levels, represented the group at Parliament Square on Thursday, April 18, among other communities from Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Oxfordshire.
The various action groups united to send the message: 'Is it right for the UK Government’s net zero target to be achieved by sacrificing the countryside?’
"I was there to represent my community in Pedwell, a hamlet of 65 dwellings; one in which every member of the community will be affected by the Nythe Road solar application to build a 146-acre solar farm, to add to 40 acres already present," Anthony said.
"We are battling to maintain the precious wetlands that have been doing their bit for the planet for millennia via creating peat, storing carbon and offering summer grazing for cattle.
Read more: Residents and farmers campaign against plans for huge solar farm on Somerset Levels
"We are fighting to save biodiversity and wide-open skies, and trying to prevent an area the size of many football pitches from becoming an industrial wasteland.
"Our campaign is called SOS Somerset Levels - Save our Somerset Levels - and we call ourselves CAMBYs, people who ‘Care About My Back Yard’."
Andrew Bowie Parliamentary Under Secretary of State was among those from the government in attendance, along with James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire.
If plans are approved, free-standing, static solar photovoltaic (‘PV’) panels for the purposes of generating electricity will be installed on the site and connected to the local network via existing overhead electricity lines.
Once operational, the development would have a generating capacity of approximately 40MW and will produce grid compatible electricity for over 17,000 homes or over 20,000 electric vehicles per year.
The proposed site is currently under agricultural use, and it is proposed that this would continue, with sheep planned to live on the site to graze the land and under the panels thanks to a specialised design plan.
For more information, search reference 2023/1892/FUL on Somerset Council's online planning portal.
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