A bid to build one of Britain’s biggest solar power stations on 190 acres, the size of more than 17 Wembley Stadiums, on productive farmland in the heart of the Blackmore Vale has sparked a massive campaign opposing the ‘destruction and visual blight’ of Hardy’s Vale. North Dairy Farm Solar Limited (c/o British Solar Renewables) has applied to Dorset Council for planning permission to install ground mounted solar panels, a substation, inverter and transformer stations, security fencing, gates and CCTV along with vehicular access, internal access track, landscaping and ancillary infrastructure on 190 acres at North Dairy Farm in Pulham.

Swathes of cherished countryside, which the famed Victorian author Thomas Hardy referred to as the ‘Vale of the Little Dairies’, would be buried under thousands of solar panels – covering one mile long and almost a mile wide. More than 80 per cent of the solar farm would fall in Mappowder parish. The proposal for North Dairy Farm, which lies between the protected Conservation Areas of Mappowder, Hazelbury Bryan, and the village of Pulham, has been met with widespread opposition and Facebook page facebook.com/savehardysvale. Already thousands of people in the Vale have joined the campaign to try to stop the scheme, which David says would ‘destroy parts of this famed and delicate landscape forever’. With the public consultation period set to close on May 31, David is urging readers to write or email planning case officer Simon McFarlane at Dorset Council. David said: “The application is to install ground-mounted solar panels, 9.5 kilometres of perimeter internal security fence and about 120, six metre-high camera posts, 33 inverter containers and an electricity substation.  “If approved, the solar farm would cause visual harm to the surrounding highly valued local landscape and to the setting of the nationally protected Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural 20 Beauty (AONB) and two Conservation Areas peppered with significant heritage assets. The numerous uninterrupted panoramic views from public roads, footpaths and bridleways which run through the site and along the escarpments above the vale would suffer significant visual harm.  The industrial-sized electricity generation plant would cause visual harm to the setting of the nationally protected AONB, the Conservation Areas of Mappowder and Hazelbury Bryan and many listed buildings.

“We should not be covering productive farmland or harming highly valued conservation areas and protected landscapes, especially in the astonishingly beautiful countryside of North Dorset, which a report commissioned by Dorset Council called ‘Dorset’s greatest economic asset’. “A highly valued rural scene would be replaced by an incongruous industrial one. “While many objectors recognise the need for renewable energy, it should not come at the cost of desecrating Hardy’s Vale.”
David added: “We are very pleased that the Prime Minister announced on October 6, 2020 that off shore wind turbines will provide for the green energy needs of all homes in the country by 2030. “Thankfully, we do not need to desecrate Hardy’s Vale to combat climate change when we will get all the green wind energy we need – and at much lower carbon cost than solar, which is vital if climate change is to be reversed. And of course, solar is only available during daylight.”

See the plans at dorset foryou.com, number P/FUL/2021/01018.  Email Simon McFarlane at planningteamd@dorsetcou ncil.gov.uk or write to him: Planning Team D, South Walks House, South Walks Road, Dorchester DT1 1UZ.

By Karen Bate
newsdesk@blackmorevale.net