'Jobs and food at risk' if solar park plan gets nod

JOBS in the agricultural and tourism sectors will be lost and around 5,000 tonnes of crops will be taken out of food production if a controversial solar scheme gets the go-ahead, councillors will hear next week.

- PETER DAVISON

An extraordinary meeting of Wiltshire Council's cabinet will be held at County Hall in Trowbridge on Tuesday for councillors to sign off the council's formal response to the Lime Down Solar Park application.

The meeting is taking place just three days before the cutoff date for making representations to the Planning Inspectorate. Normally, it would be the council determining the planning application.

But the vast 500 megawatt solar park - which would cover an area four miles wide and two miles deep north of the M4 - has been deemed a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. The application by Island Green Power, a subsidiary of former Thames Water owner Macquarie - is currently in the Planning Inspectorate's examination phase.

The applicant, anyone who is registered to have their say, official bodies, and people whose land is directly affected can comment on the proposed development until January 9.