Photovolt Development Partners (PVDP), have worked closely with Historic England to ensure the proposed solar farm is designed and built in a way that avoids any impact on the Palace’s position as a world heritage site.
The news comes following notification of changes made by PVDP to remove panels from the nearby Bladon site, as part of the ‘Deadline 2’ of the Planning Inspectorate’s ongoing examination of the proposal. HE had previously expressed concerns that some of the Bladon panels could cause ‘minor harm’ to the Palace’s broader setting. However, following today’s confirmed changes, this has now been fully addressed and removed.
“Following years of working in close cooperation with Historic England, we are pleased to see them confirm our long-held view that the proposed site will not cause any harm to the historic Blenheim Palace” said Photovolt Director, Mark Owen Lloyd. “Removing the panels at Bladon means we have gone even further in our efforts to do all we can to protect the world class cultural asset that is the Palace. We have also addressed the concerns of the Grove Road Residents Association.”
Photovolt Development Partners have always been clear that no panels would be on the Palace site or visible from it. The panels removed from Bladon were originally planned to be adjacent to the approach to the Palace via footpaths. However, their removal demonstrates the developer’s willingness to respond to feedback, alter the project and minimise the impact it has on the local area.
Since launching the project three years ago, PVDP have made a number of changes to the proposed development in response to local feedback. These include increasing the number of ‘non-panel’ fields to one-third of the total site, boosting the proposed community benefit fund by nearly ten times to £440,000 per year and increasing the buffer zone between panels and residences to 25 metres.
Additionally, PVDP recently agreed to remove panels near Oxford Airport, in response to concerns raised by local aviation authorities.
“We are confident that the Botley West Solar Farm will bring huge benefits to Oxfordshire, help meet national clean power targets and contribute to abating climate change” added Mr Owen-Lloyd. “Today demonstrates that through working closely with the community we can amend our plan to ensure we deliver the green energy needed whilst ensuring environmental and landscape integrity”.
Once built, Botley West will be the largest solar farm in the UK, generating 840Mw of clean, renewable energy, enough to power 330,000 homes, the equivalent of every household in Oxfordshire.
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