Ownership of Lime Down solar farm called 'security issue'

The MP has written to net zero secretary Ed Miliband, raising concerns about the acquisition of Island Green Power.

The firm is developing the proposed 2,200-acre Lime Down solar farm in the Malmesbury countryside and was bought by Macquarie Asset Management. 

Macquarie owned Thames Water between 2006 and 2017, during which time the utility firm's debt increased from £3.4 billion to £10.8 billion.  

"Given Macquarie's track record as the former owner of Thames Water, under whose stewardship the utility accrued billions in debt while service standards declined, this development understandably raises alarm," writes the MP in a letter to the minister.

"My constituents and I are troubled by the prospect of a company with such a history taking control of a major infrastructure project in our region.

"I would argue that this acquisition poses serious questions about our economic and environmental security. 

"Allowing a company linked to the deterioration of critical utilities, with associated widespread toxic pollution of our waterways, to lead large-scale infrastructure development is, in my view, deeply misguided. 

"We must learn from past failures."

Recommended reading: 

Solar farm campaigners to stage protest walks across countryside

Businesses and community groups invited to take part in Wiltshire Climate Summit 2025

One of UK's first 'net zero roads' laid on town's 'worst road'

The MP, who is a member of the Green Lib Dems parliamentary group - says she has opposed the plans from the outset.

"The Lime Down proposal is problematic on multiple fronts.

"It would industrialise an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, sacrifice valuable agricultural land, install a Battery Energy Storage System dangerously close to a main railway line, and offer little to no tangible benefit to the local population," she said in her letter.

She has repeated her requests - first made in July 2024 and again in October last year - for a meeting with the minister.

The Lime Down solar park would be built at six sites in close proximity around the villages of Hullavington, Stanton St Quintin, Sherston, and Luckington.

Island Green Power says the solar arrays would generate 500 megawatts of electricity - enough to power around 115,000 homes.

This week the company published its preferred route for the 13 mile long cable that would connect the six sites and their single battery storage unit with the National Grid's Melksham Substation.

The trench for the cable would be 1.7 metres (5.5 ft) wide and two metres (6.5 ft) deep, and would have to be channeled under the M4 and the Bristol-to-London railway line.

Island Green Power says burying the cable would avoid running it along overhead pylons. 

It says the project would "support national and regional aims to decarbonise our electricity systems and bolster our energy security".

Because the capacity of the proposed development is over 50 megawatts, the project is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.

This means permission for the scheme will need to come from Ed Miliband rather than Wiltshire Council.

However, Wiltshire Council has voiced its opposition, saying in March this year: "To see that much farmland converted and the essential industrialisation of the countryside provides good grounds for refusal."

Island Green Power said this week it hopes to submit a development application by the end of the year and, if successful, wants to start construction in 2027.