Towards the end of January 2013, Codford parish council had a meeting at which it added its full support for a planned solar panel farm at East Farm that is in Codford St Mary. It is proposed to install as many as 35,000 solar panels that would be mounted on the ground with supporting works.
Solar Panels
Solar Power South felt that the site would make an excellent location as it was very well screened by some woodland on the south side. In addition to up to 35,000 solar panels the construction of a small inverter building will also be required but there would be some landscaping as well.
Interestingly, the application is only for a temporary facility that would last for a period of 25 years at which time the site will be put back to how it currently looks.
Rosemary Wyeth is the chairperson of Codford Parish Council and made it clear that there had been no objections to the planned construction of the solar panel farm at the meeting at the end of January. She felt that the solar panels took up a lot less space than had been expected and the site was out of the way.
Apparently, Solar Power South attended East Codford Village Hall to show the local people what the planned solar panel farm would look like and it also gave the public the opportunity to ask any questions.
Rosemary Wyeth was of the opinion that the farming community needed to diversify and that, as the proposed solar panel farm would not be visible by the villagers, there should not be any concerns about the planning application. Her initial thoughts when she first heard about the scheme were that there seemed to be a huge number of solar panels but, having observed the pictures and studied the documentation, she felt that the farm would not take up that much space.
Another benefit of the solar panel farm would be that a number of building jobs could be created albeit they would be of a short-term nature.
Ultimately, Wiltshire Council will have the final say so we will continue to keep you informed.
