A woman in Minety is preparing to speak against the application for a solar farm at the final committee meeting this week. 

Niki Dow, 41, who owns Willow Equine Ltd and lives next door to the 22 acre proposed site, is urging the people of Minety to act before it is too late. 

The proposed solar farm on Moor Lane Farm, which would contain 16,000 solar panels and produce a generation capacity of 4.5MW, is recommended to approve with conditions at the committee meeting in Chippenham on April 20 at 3pm.

Ms Dow said: “I was informed last week of the meeting but a lot of my neighbours haven’t been informed at all. I am trying to canvass them into speaking at the meeting but not very successfully.

“The planning officer has considered quite a lot of things about the proposed farm but not the effect it will have on our house and business which is right next door.”

Willow Equine Ltd specialises in dressage training and rehabilitation. They have an orthopaedic surgeon on site who works with the owners to bring the horses back to full health.

Ms Dow continued: “It is a very important business and some of the top sporting horses in the country come to us. They are in quite a stressful state so having lorries pass through next to them will not help.”

The 41-year-old was one of several residents to submit their comments during the initial consultation phase in September and intends to voice her concerns on Wednesday. 

“My biggest concern is the increase to the risk of flooding. They state they are going to use SUD systems but these are not proven to work in high clay content soil.

“Our neighbour’s fields flood regularly and at times it can be completely underwater. We also have a single track road with a bridge to reach our property and there have been several days where the bridge is underwater.

“The stream also serves the rest of Minety and if there is an increased risk of flooding because of the solar farm, then it is not just the surrounding houses and businesses that will suffer, it’s the whole village.”

For the last week, Ms Dow has been posting in several community groups on Facebook trying to make those in Minety and the surrounding areas aware of the proposal and meeting.

She said: “Not many people have been informed about the farm and those affected need to do some research before it is too late and they see these huge HGV’s going past their windows. How will they feel if their houses start flooding more often?”

Minety Parish Council has voiced its opposition to the plans and has agreed to support Ms Dow at the meeting.

Charles Cook, chairman of Minety Parish Council, said he will speak against the proposals and cite traffic and cable routing as part of his argument. 

He added: “I don’t think it is necessary. The national grid released a report that The Telegraph covered, stating they might have to shut some solar farms down because they cannot cope with the excess amount of power they are producing.” 

Minety councillor Chuck Berry, called this application into committee because of the concern it had caused in his division. 

For more information about the application, contact Matthew Pearson on 01225718013.