Plans for huge solar farm in Oxfordshire to be decided today

If the Dodwells Solar Farm project is approved, it would see 278 acres of land north of the A40 near Milton Common and Tetsworth turned into a solar farm.

The project’s future lies in the hands of South Oxfordshire District Councils planning committee, who will decide at a meeting this evening.

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Objections have been lodged against the proposed solar farm by Great Milton, Great Haseley and Tetsworth parish councils, which complained about its potential size and effect on the countryside.

But the council’s case officer, William Sparling, has recommended that the plans are approved.

In his report, he said: “This is a development proposal which will avoid the loss of best and most versatile agricultural land, retain agriculture within and between solar panels, propose biodiversity enhancements, tree planting and suitably mitigate other possible impacts arising from the proposal.”