Residents of Salford Priors, a Warwickshire village of thatched Tudor cottages, a pub and a church recorded in the Domesday Book, are fighting plans for what would become one of the UK's biggest solar farms. Communities along the county's border with Worcestershire say the proposed Arrow Valley Solar project will turn prime arable land into a "crystal desert" blighted by glint and glare, with natural habitats destroyed.
The scheme would span four square miles, with solar arrays and battery storage systems built across four zones and linked by underground cables. It is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project because of its scale, and could generate up to 500 megawatts, enough to power about 235,000 homes a year.
The site covers 4,353 acres, equivalent to 2,468 full-size football pitches, and is expected to become operational by 2031 if planning permission is granted. Some of the panels would be "tracker" variants the size of double-decker buses that follow the sun.
Paul Wareing, 68, a semi-retired former government project manager who lives in Salford Priors with his wife Joanna, 69, said the farm would cover parts of the Vale of Evesham, an area known for its fertile soil and fruit and asparagus growing, and destroy "quintessential English countryside." "People are only just waking up to the scale of this thing," he said. "It will destroy our green and pleasant land."
Battery storage and wildfire fears
Mr Wareing said a field earmarked for battery units to store excess energy was the site of a wildfire that threatened the village last month. "If there had been batteries in-situ then there would have been hell to pay," he said. "This scheme will turn a beautiful area into a giant industrial estate. The irony is that I live in a conservation area and if I wanted to put solar panels on my roof I wouldn't be allowed. Instead schemes like this are allowed to blight the countryside around us."
Ragley Estate and a family feud
Much of the land for the project would come from the nearby 6,000-acre Ragley Estate, which was at the centre of a bitter High Court family trust dispute last year. David Smith, a retired electricity board worker from Abbots Morton, accused Henry Seymour, the 9th Marquess of Hertford, who inherited the £85 million ancestral estate in 1991, of "destroying this corner of Warwickshire."
"How will he be remembered after this?" Mr Smith, 68, said. "Landowners like the marquess are custodians, it is only his house for his duration. A sizeable percentage of this scheme will be on the estate's land, but not one square inch of it will be visible from Ragley Hall."
Mr Smith said the scheme would put panels just yards from his home. He fears the land, currently used to grow oil seed rape, would flood because underground drainage pipes would be "smashed" by the panel framework. The landowner, who declined to be named, said he had agreed to lease 200 acres for at least 30 years, adding that arable farming was becoming "unviable." "If the scheme gets the go-ahead there will be sheep on here, it's going to be built so they can graze," he said. "I'm losing money growing crops."
Planning process and public consultation
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects require a specific type of planning permission called development consent, with the final decision resting with the Secretary of State. A public consultation into the Arrow Valley project opens at the end of this month.
Villages affected and divided opinion
Land earmarked for the scheme spans at least 11 parishes, including the villages of Broome and Cleeve Prior and the hamlet of Weethley, where a vista behind St James's church looking towards the Cotswolds is set to be obscured by panels.
Dr Jane Cornwall, a psychologist and church warden at St James's who runs a mindfulness group there for people with anxiety and depression, said: "People come here to enjoy the unadulterated view, to walk and enjoy the peaceful tranquillity. I'm very concerned and the company behind this scheme have done nothing to allay people's fears."
Not everyone is opposed. A villager in Dunnington who supports the scheme and green energy generally said: "The panels near here won't be visible from the houses and will mainly be on estate land which isn't used for much at the moment."
Part of a wider solar boom
Arrow Valley Solar is one of a wave of large solar parks to enter the planning system over the past year. Earlier this year the government approved the 800-megawatt Springwell Solar Farm, between Lincoln and Sleaford, which will cover 3,163 acres and power 180,000 homes, then the UK's largest power-producing solar farm. A decision on a proposed 4,361-acre "Great North Road" solar park beside the A1 in Nottinghamshire, which could generate enough electricity for 400,000 homes, is expected next month.
Developer and estate respond
Jamie Gleeson, project development manager for Arrow Valley Solar, said the development would be "sympathetic to the local area's environment, character and history." He said the project was being developed to help meet growing demand for secure, home-grown renewable energy and would be shaped by environmental and technical assessments alongside feedback from local communities. He encouraged anyone interested to take part in the forthcoming public consultation.
Ragley Estate said it understood some residents had concerns over the scheme, "for which Ragley is one of a number of landowners that are involved," and said the Arrow Valley Solar project team was best placed to respond to queries ahead of the consultation.
The marquess's family battle
Last November the Earl of Yarmouth, William Seymour, was left with a £1.3 million legal bill after losing a battle over the running of the estate. The earl, then 31, had been at odds with his parents, the Marquess and Marchioness of Hertford, since 2018, when they objected to his wedding to former Goldman Sachs banker Kelsey Wells, now Lady Yarmouth. The High Court was told that as the eldest son, the earl had expected to inherit Ragley Hall, the 340-year-old family seat, when he turned 30, but was disinherited by his father after the couple fell out around the time of the marriage.
