‘We’ll be imprisoned!’ Historic British village up in arms over giant solar farm plans

A Historic British village is up in arms over plans to build a giant solar farm on almost 300 acres of farmland.

Brailsford, Derbyshire, one of the oldest villages in Britain, could be the home of 132,000 solar panels if plans are approved.

British Solar Renewables (BSR) has now submitted an application to install the panels on farmland leased from the aristocratic Chichester family.

Brailsford Solar Park would be one of the largest in England and would provide enough energy to power more than 16,000 homes with an 87 megawatt capacity.

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Plans, submitted to Derbyshire Dales District Council, reveal the solar farm would completely surround three properties.

The proposed nine-feet-high panels are just yards away from local's gardens and would be constantly monitored by CCTV posts and security towers.

James Hodson, 60, is one local who would be effected by the renewable farm.

The dad-of-three fears that being surrounded by solar panels would ruin countryside vies and make his home - which he moved into in 1999 - unsellable.

He said: "It's about 300 acres of land which completely surrounds us.

"The access lane will be shut off to us and we'll have to access it through a gated system.

"All these solar fields are surrounded by these 8 feet high fences with CCTV cameras we will have to drive through a half-a-mile to our home which will be like driving into a prison."

Mr Hodson said when his family purchased the property, part of the contract required them to keep it "quite and countrified".

"The nearest panels will be 25 metres away, so you'll have the fence and the motion sensor light which can go off at any point," he added.

More than 70 locals met last month to discuss their opposition to the solar farm.

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Mr Hodson, an accountant, said: "There were so many of us at the meeting, it was almost standing room only. Everyone around here is deeply concerned.

"Brailsford is growing and the more people arrive the more they'll use the footpaths and amenities."

He said he was "all for alternative form of energy" but only when it is done in a "organised manner".

Jennifer Smith, 58, and husband, Andrew, moved into a barn conversion in April 2000.

Mrs Smith said one tenant farmer, who works on the Chichester estate could be "kicked out and his livelihood ruined".

Referring to the Chichester family, she said: "We thought the land was precious to them, protected even. So it came as a bit of a shock when we found out what the plan was."

"It will have the feeling of living in a solar prison. It will wrap right round us," she added.

Carla Hadaker, development director at BSR, said the company would work with the community.

She said: "We originate, develop, build and then operate and maintain all of our own projects, so we do recognise that we are going to be neighbours in the communities that we go into for typically 40 years.

"In order to manage these relationships we are out on site and we carry out very robust surveys as part of the application to ensure that we're in an appropriate environment or we've selected an appropriate site."

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