Solar Field - Mount Farm Area

21/00095/FULL | Change of use of field to solar field with 345 No. Photovoltaic panels | Land Adjacent To Mount Farm Choke Lane Maidenhead

This recent planning application raises issues that create the dilemma of Green Energy versus Green Belt.
The Society’s view is this site is not only within the Green Belt but it is within an Area of Special Landscape Importance as defined in the current Local Plan. Covering an open green field with photovoltaic panels on any site within either of these designations should be prevented. When it is good agricultural land as well the proposed construction is even more deplorable.

Planning Policy Guidance indicates that large scale solar farms should be focused on previously developed and non-agricultural land. This site is therefore not suitable.

If these panel are required to provide electricity for the proposed office building, there seems no reason why they should not be sited on its roof.