Proposals for a huge new solar energy farm near Burnham-On-Sea which will be big enough to power almost 1,500 homes have been given the go-ahead this week.
The 25,000-panel solar farm at Ashlawn Farm next to Pill Road in Rooksbridge will cover a 7.62-hectare site which is larger than ten football pitches.
Wells-based firm Brilliant Harvest 009 has been granted permission for the site by Sedgemoor District Council planners after just one letter of opposition against the scheme was lodged.
Martin Shobbrook, clerk to East Brent Parish Council, said its members had met twice to discuss the plans and debated them over many hours but decided not to lodge an objection.
“East Brent Parish Council (by a majority vote of its Councillors) decided that it is not able to either support or oppose the application. Instead, it asked that the District Council made what it felt to be the right decision about this application, based upon its detailed knowledge of such matters, including local and national policies / guidelines.”
“The general consensus of the Parish Councillors was that solar energy production is one of the alternative forms of power which should be promoted and they are not opposing the matter per se,” the council said in a statement.
The new site will be one of several in our area. Burnham-On-Sea.com has previously featured the huge solar energy farms that have been built in Watchfield and a £1.1m site in Wedmore.
The new solar farm at Rooksbridge is close to the site of the proposed Pilrow wind farm, which is currently the subject of a planning appeal after being rejected last year.
