A SOLAR farm, capable of providing power for 10,600 homes has been approved at Stockbridge, near Longburton, just south of Sherborne.

Several councillors said they were torn by the application – balancing the need to protect what is said to be one of Dorset’s most beautiful areas with the need to generate more ‘green’ energy to help with climate change.

Cllr John Worth said at the start of the planning committee debate that he had been “on a knife edge” over which way to vote, balancing the need to produce electricity with protecting the appearance of the area.

Cllrs David Tooke and Shane Bartlett made similar comments although in the end the strategic planning committee voted 6-2 in favour of the application.

Speaking against was Cllr Belinda Rideout who said the development would harm the environment. She said she believed it would not provide enough benefits to outweigh the damage done.

Others were persuaded by the company’s promise to plant an extra 470 trees on the site and an argument that it would be no more unsightly than the thousands of acres which Dorset farmers put under plastic each year to speed up crop growth, without the need for planning consent.

Councillors heard that Queen Thorne Parish Council and Cam Vale parish council had voted to object to the application because of the harm that it poses to the Blackmore Vale, its landscape and the setting of its heritage assets, particularly the church at Lillington and a grade 2 listed barn at Lower Stockbridge Farm

Dorset Council’s conservation officer had taken a similar view, adding ‘harm’ to listed buildings at Leweston School. Council planning officers had also recommending rejecting the scheme.

Almost 400 public comments had been submitted on the proposals – only 23 in support.

The meeting heard that the company claimed the scheme would be unviable if it had to reduce its size.

The Higher Stockbridge Farm application comes from Voltalia UK Ltd and could produce 35MW of electricity from solar panels laid out across a number of fields mainly to the west of the farm buildings.

The site is approximately 3 miles south of Sherborne and 5 miles south east of Yeovil with the villages of Lillington, Leigh and Longburton all just over a mile from the site.

The application includes proposals for an electricity substation; transformer stations; site access and internal tracks; landscaping; biodiversity measures; security fencing and ancillary infrastructure.

Two public exhibition sessions were held last year, which attracted around 20 people with more than 260 leaflets sent directly to the nearest homes.

The company has also set up a website to explain its proposals  – https://www.higherstockbridgesolarpark.co/

Voltalia says it is responsible for the installation of over 22 solar parks in the UK with a total capacity of over 196 MW.