Controversial Bramley solar farm recommended for approval

A controversial solar farm between Silchester and Bramley has been recommended for approval by planning officers.

The 200-acre farm, which has drawn the ire of local residents due to its greenbelt location between the two villages, will be voted on next week.

In a report ahead of the meeting, planners acknowledged that although the development “would have impacts on both the local landscape character and visual amenity” of the area, new landscaping would mitigate it to an acceptable level while delivering renewable energy.

The report also said that as the scheme would only operate initially for 40 years, there would be “no permanent or irreversible loss of such high quality agricultural land with the ability to provide a less intensive agricultural activity on site retained”.

It added that the proposals wouldn’t adversely affect the surrounding Roman ruins or “archaeological potential” of the site.

The report will be disappointing to many Silchester and Bramley residents who have been opposing the scheme since it was first mooted.

A campaign group has been set up by concerned locals, arguing that the scheme is inappropriate for the site and would potentially provide a route for housing to be built on the site when the solar farm is decommissioned as the site will then be brownfield land.

The Conservative borough councillor for Bramley, Simon Mahaffey, has also objected to the scheme, arguing it would be “one of the largest single industrial installations” within Basingstoke and Deane and would have “significant local impact”.

However, Enso Energy – the company behind the scheme – has argued it would take approximately 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere every year – an equivalent reduction of 8,000 cars on the road every year – and supply almost 50MW of clean, renewable electricity to the National Grid.

The scheme will be voted on by the borough council’s development control committee next Wednesday.