A hundred protesters are expected to gather outside council offices to express their opposition to the Botley West Solar Farm project.
A motion on the Botley West Solar Farm will be debated at a meeting of the West Oxfordshire District Council this afternoon.
The developer behind the farm, Photovolt Development Partners, has said the farm has the potential to power up to 330,000 homes and deliver 840MW of green energy to the National Grid.
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Campaigners from the villages of Church Hanborough, Cassington and Bladon are likely to join the protest outside the offices.
Councillor Liam Walker, who strongly opposes the solar farm, said: “We are expecting a good show of support at the West Oxfordshire District Council meeting later today with about a hundred people expected to attend as the community comes together to say NO to the project.”
The farm scheme will be decided by the UK Government, via the planning inspectorate, and not by the local councils.
If it gets the go-ahead from the Secretary of State, building is expected to start in the summer of 2025 on sites north of Woodstock, west of Kidlington and west of Botley.
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However, this afternoon Conservative councillor Lysette Nicholls is putting forward a motion which calls on the leader of the council to “write to the Secretary of State for Business & Trade, and all Oxfordshire MPs, informing them that West Oxfordshire District Council objects to the proposed Botley West Solar Farm on Blenheim Palace and Merton College land”.
West Oxfordshire District councillor for Witney East Duncan Enright said: “I’m very pleased to see people from West Oxfordshire getting involved early on.
“Councillors will make sure all voices are heard on the solar farm proposals.
“The council cannot decide on this as it is a matter for national government, but we are putting together a detailed report to inform the Secretary of State based on expert local knowledge.”
Mr Walker has urged councillors to “support the motion being putting forward by the Conservative group” which calls on the “council leader to write to the government expressing the council’s rejection of this decimation of our countryside with solar panels”.
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Witney MP Robert Courts has previously expressed his opposition to the farm and has been approached for comment.
It is understood campaigners are not against solar panels per se but are not in favour of installing solar panels on fields.
On the ‘Stop Botley West Campaign’ website, it says: “We are a local group of residents working to stop Botley West, a plan from developers and landowners to cover your countryside in an ocean of metal and glass.”
15 villages are likely to be affected by the development and the campaign against has said it will be “larger than Heathrow” as a site.
Photovolt Development Partners was approached for comment.
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