A SOLAR farm the size of up to 15 football pitches could be built near Pewsey and villagers are not happy about it.

Anger over access to the proposed site at Revie House Lane in the small village of Coombe near Enford and the visual impact to the surrounding picturesque scenery were voiced by residents at a public consultation, organised by British Solar Renewables on Wednesday at Enford Village Hall.

However, Rachael Humphreys and Mark Harding-Rolls from the company based near Glastonbury, stressed they were in the very early stages of drawing up plans and there could be a “showstopper” that makes them pull the plug on the proposal.

They want to build a 5Mega Watt solar farm on the land which is made up of 27 acres but may only utilise 20 acres of this for the panels, which would be around 7ft high at the back.

The company were approached by the landowner about building a solar farm and SSE told British Solar Renewables there was capacity to link up to the electric grid.

The farm would power around 1,268 homes and would take around six weeks to build with three lorries coming through the village a day and there is the potential to provide short term employment in the construction phase.

As the company is still drawing up drafts they are yet to submit a planning application but were keen to engage with the local community through the first of a series of consultations, which around 100 people turned up to, because they said there is often a lot of “misinformation” about solar farms.

In the next six weeks, assessments will be carried out into factors such as the heritage of the site as well as consultations with the Ministry of Defence, who own the land nearby at Salisbury Plain training area, and highways agency over access which would be between houses via Coombe Lane.

The development would also include two metre underground cabling, a two metre deer fence which would be alarmed as well as thermal cameras monitoring the site.

The company pointed out that farming is at the heart of what they do and advised hedges would be used to screen the panels and there is the possibility for a community fund to benefit the residents issued through the parish council.

However, residents were left unimpressed Terry Mundy, of Coombe Lane, said: “We are extremely unhappy and that is the general view. It’s sandwiched between two sites of special scientific interest and what they are seeking to do is introduce a degree of industrialisation.

“Most solar farms you see are adjacent to motorways where the nearby environment has already been ruined but here it’s a completely rural environment and it is a real blot of the landscape.”

Wife Linda Mundy added: “I’m absolutely appalled they can even consider putting a blot like this on the landscape. We are in a village and it’s right bang in the middle of it.”