Campaigners lose ‘David and Goliath’ battle to stop West Burton solar farm near Gainsborough

The West Burton solar farm will cover 2,550 acres of land around the West Lindsey villages of Marton, Sturton-on-Stow and Saxilby.

It is the third major solar project to be given approval by the new government.

Developer Island Green Power says the West Burton plans would generate much-needed renewable energy, and preventing the release of greenhouse gases.

However campaigners say that thousands of acres of farmland has now been lost in a six-mile radius to a cluster of solar farms in West Lindsey.

Simon Skelton from the 7000 Acres campaign group – which took their name from the amount of land originally under threat – said: “The Examining Authority doesn’t seem to have listened to residents’ concerns.

“They say in their report it will have little impact – we think it will have a great impact.

“The inspectors seem more concerned about the deer park at Sturton than the humans who live there.

“We expected to get somewhere, but we’ve got nowhere – it seems the naysayers who thought this was a done deal were right.

“There’s been no compromise with residents.”

All three of the major projects the group was set up to oppose – Gate Burton, Cottam and West Burton – have now been approved, with more emerging since.

Simon added: “We’ll keep fighting on, but it seems like we’ve failed in West Lindsey.

“We will have to keep working on a county level, as there are many more in the pipeline. It’s a real David versus Goliath battle.”

The projects are so large they are deemed ‘nationally signficiant’, and were sent to the government for approval, rather than the local council.

The final decision was made by Secretary of State for Energy Ed Miliband.

A letter published says “the public benefits associated with the Proposed Development outweigh the harms identified, and that development consent should therefore be granted.”

Gainsborough MP Sir Edward Leigh has previously spoken out against the applications, saying: “Our part of England is under assault from serious of solar.”

Coun Davie, executive councillor for environment, economy and planning at Lincolnshire County Council said: “Adding two more giant solar farms to Lincolnshire’s countryside, which have strong local opposition, shows that this government has not listened to our residents.

“These two developments add more than 1000 hectares of solar parks to the county, bringing the total land now allocated for five approved developments to around 3500 hectares. A further 6400 hectares are also being proposed in Lincolnshire.

“Trashing the countryside and putting ginormous industrial developments on agricultural land has understandably caused much local outrage. On top of this, I have no confidence that these schemes help in any way to delivering the affordable energy that we need.

"Quite frankly these decisions are another slap in the face for Lincolnshire, and the government must start considering the cumulative impacts of all these proposals in our county. In our recent survey, residents have told us that they are very concerned about the impacts that so many Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects will have on Lincolnshire, and the effects on our nature, landscape and communities.

“They also told us that they - like us - consider rooftops and brownfield sites being the most appropriate places to install solar panels. We must stop the industrialisation of the Lincolnshire countryside."