Residents in an "oasis" of a Worcestershire village have blasted plans to cover Grade 1 farmland with solar panels, warning the area is in danger of becoming "Solarshire".
Magistrate-turned-part-time gardener, Tony Jordan, has slammed plans from consultants Tyler Hill to turn farmland in Comhampton into rows of solar panels.
The village, near Droitwich Spa is set to be surrounded by solar panels within metres of homes and listed buildings.
However, Mr Jordan, alongside other residents in the village, has voiced concerns about the environmental impact of the development, with concerns about flooding and disrupting a community farm, as well as complaining they have been left in "limbo".
"It’s been three years and we’re still in limbo", Mr Jordan told GB News.
"This land, being grade one, produces far more crops with minimal fertiliser, which we're always being told is more expensive than ever.
"The unique crisscrossing watercourse flowing underneath helps the crops grow, which in turn prevents flooding to the adjacent major road network. It’s a longstanding balance of people and nature that will be destroyed."
Mr Jordan was resolute that things had become desperate in the village, adding: "We’re not the kind of people that try and fight every lost cause in the country, this is genuine stuff with local people."
Mr Jordan was also quick to criticise the communications between Tyler Hill and the residents.
He said: "The people that they sent down were very evasive. When we asked simple questions like 'what type of solar panels they are', they couldn’t answer us, none of them had actually even visited the site."
Residents attended a consultation meeting at Hartlebury Village Hall to protest. However, Mr Jordan said they were met once again with little compromise from the planners.
"Virtually all our residents attended in opposition, the plans they presented showed little or no change from previous submission.
"The development will enclose regularly used footpaths, will be as high as some properties' rooflines and will also enclose our community farm that thousands of school children and disabled people visit to experience an open countryside environment.
"It's highly likely visitors will go elsewhere with the loss of even more local jobs we can ill afford."
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However, Mr Jordan made it very clear the residents of Comhampton are not opposed to renewable energy, but instead were concerned about the scale of this development.
He said: "Some of us already use solar domestically, we just can’t see with so many breaches of guidelines, the risk to local sustained jobs and the fact that the underground watercourse will likely undermine any structures built, that this application has not been rejected like so many others within the county and in a lot less time than this.
"We run the risk of becoming Solarshire, not Worcestershire.
"We only have about five per cent of land of this quality left. Typically, it can produce 312 tonnes of cereal crops per year, let’s keep feeding people at lower cost with this most valuable asset rather than feeding big business profit and AI."
The 60-year-old added parish councillors and local farmers will continue to oppose the scheme, with campaigners now awaiting another planning submission expected in June.
He said: "We will continue to fight this through formal opposition on the planning portal, we already have two petitions running with triple-figure support. We will continue to lobby our local councillors and MPs.
"Any help is greatly appreciated. Anyone can put forward their objections formally on the Worcestershire planning portal. We need the great British people's support as we are a small community."
GB News has contacted Tyler Hill for a comment.
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