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BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Botley West Solar Farm: Land near airport removed from plans
A portion of land near an airport will no longer be included in plans for one of Europe's largest solar farms. Botley West Solar Farm will cover about 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of countryside at three sites in west Oxfordshire if approved. Developers Photo Vault Development Partners (PVDP) said it had now scaled the proposal back by 10 hectares - equivalent to about 16 football pitches - after Oxford Airport raised concerns about building on land that could potentially be needed in the event of an emergency landing. The £800m development has been designated as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and is currently being evaluated by the government. It would see panels installed in countryside north of Woodstock, west of Kidlington and west of said it would now not be installing solar panels on "sensitive areas" identified for potential emergency landings by aircraft operating from Oxford Airport."We have... agreed to remove panels from areas identified as particularly sensitive, in direct response to local concerns," Mark Owen-Lloyd, director of Botley West Solar Farm, said."These changes reflect our commitment to working in partnership and cooperation with the communities around Botley West and ensuring the project delivers real, lasting benefits where they are most needed," he developers also announced that it had doubled its community benefit fund to £440,000 a year following discussions with local suggested the investment could be used to upgrade community facilities, develop youth and skills programmes and to support local sustainability announcements come in the same week that West Oxfordshire District Council said the development would cause "major harm lasting generations" and should be "dramatically reduced" in comments, which included that the proposals were "detrimental" to the area, came in the council's final written submission to the said it disagreed with the local authority and had made several changes to the proposed locations of solar panels. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Botley West solar farm three-day public inquiry begins
A public inquiry into plans to build of one Europe's largest solar farms begins on the next three days, open floor hearings will take place as part of the Planning Inspectorate's examination of the controversial Botley West scheme in £800m farm would cover 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of countryside north of Woodstock, west of Kidlington and west of is considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, meaning the application must be considered by the government, not local councils. The plan has split opinion, with developer Photo Vault Development Partners saying large-scale solar energy is crucial to meet the UK's climate targets, while local politicians and opponents calling it a cause of also want Blenheim Palace, which owns 90% of the land, to use its influence to press for 2% of the project's annual revenue, instead of the proposed 0.2%, to be allocated to benefit local Palace said: "As we lend our land to this project we do so knowing it could deliver enough clean energy to power 330,000 homes, helping Oxfordshire's homes to be self-sufficient, whilst supporting our collective declarations in the battle against the climate emergency."It added it knew the arguments both for and against the development and it did not think those were "exclusive of one another".Social enterprise The Low Carbon Hub has been running the Make Botley West Solar Farm Fair campaign, which is focused on ensuring the project delivers "real and lasting benefits to the local communities that will host it".It said it had estimated in the first year 2% of revenue would create £840,000 in community benefit, but it added until the project was up and running it was "very difficult" to know the precise figure."Our proposed 2% of revenue model ensures communities receive a fair and proportionate benefit, one that is tied to the actual performance of the project – if that does well, then communities also benefit," it Oxfordshire District Council has previously said the scale of the solar park had "potential for significant and widespread positive and negative impacts".As part of the planning process, relevant parties, including the local authorities in which the development sits, can submit their response to the plans. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
