A BID to build a major solar farm at Highampton was this week turned down by West Devon's planning committee — despite recommendations the scheme should be approved.

The application at Willsland was for the development of a solar farm covering seven hectares, to include solar panels, perimeter fences measuring no higher than 2.4 metres, CCTV and three small substations.

The 2.8 megawatt scheme would have supplied Highampton and the surrounding area with green electricity.

The proposal plans stated the site would be screened by existing trees and hedgerows to minimalise any visual impact, and had been changed to limit the impact on a neighbouring property by removing the northernmost field included in the original proposal.

Landscape officer Georgina Browne felt tree cover would offer enough visual protection at the site.

She said: 'From our site visit I am confident that the proposal, by virtue of its setting beneath higher landform and by the existence of mature hedgerow boundaries, does not have a detrimental impact on the visual quality of both the immediate landscape or Dartmoor some 15 kilometres to the south.

'I am supportive of this proposal subject to conditions to safeguard the hedges and hedgerow trees and efforts made to add to the local woodland cover.'

Cllr David Wilde also supported the application.

Cllr Wilde said: 'It is clear to me that on the basis of the conditions of planning, we should accept this proposal. I am struggling to see any reason to object.

'The site has been reduced in size to respect the neighbours — and everyone seems to be forgetting we have a need for renewable energy.

'We have highly visible polytunnels and the like across the countryside, and I see no difference here.'

The committee heard there were no objections to the scheme from Dartmoor National Park or Natural England. An assessment by the borough council and Tamar Valley AONB was also supportive.

Ben Cosh, a director for the developers The Green Company, said: 'This is one of a number of solar farm applications we have worked on in the South West.

'Out of all of those, with this application we have had our deepest dialogue with the local community to understand and hear their concerns.

'Through this process we have removed the top field from the application and shared our thoughts with locals.

'From our perspective, we can see no reason why this should be refused.

'The question I would put to councillors is that a number of power stations are to be turned off in the near future, and I would ask them where they want their energy to come from.

'Solar farms are far less visually intrusive than wind farms. They say they support green energy in principle but then turn down good applications like ours.'

But members of the council's planning committee refused the application by five votes to four at their meeting on Tuesday, citing the visual impact of the solar farm on the wider area and to the villagers in Highampton, the effects on the village's amenities, and the scale of the development.

The decision followed a site visit on August 25.

Cllr John Hockridge felt this visit had been extremely beneficial.

He said: 'The benefits of the site visit were great. Absolutely enormous.

'Going to the site you could very clearly see where the site was and the great impact it would have. The impact it would have, for me, would be very damaging to the countryside.

'In my opinion we need to preserve our rural countryside.

'I am not against renewable energy but I am against the scale of this application. I feel we should exploit the power in our rivers through hydroelectricity. This would have a far lesser impact on the countryside.'

Cllr Bill Cann echoed these sentiments.

Cllr Cann said: 'The countryside would be greatly impacted, certainly. However it's not just the countryside, but the people of Highampton.

'It would be visually intrusive to those people day in, and day out, for the next 25 years. This application is certainly not what we are looking for in West Devon.'

Cllr Michael Puckey spoke to the committee on behalf of Highampton Parish Council and shared his objections: 'The community view is that the application should be refused.

'The scheme proposed is at the heart of the beautiful countryside of Highampton and is inappropriate.

'We must guard against the proliferation of sites like this, which if allowed could ruin our rural landscape.'

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England was also opposed to the development.

Penny Mills from the CPRE said: 'The CPRE has objected to this application for a huge industrial solar farm and infrastructure in the heart of the countryside at Highampton.

'We are glad the matter was deferred until the planning committee made a site inspection as that seemed the only fair way to proceed.

'The refusal is very good news.

'The scheme at Highampton was far too large and would have had a huge impact on the rural landscape of the area.

'We are all so lucky to live in a beautiful unspoiled part of the countryside and we need to ensure that we protect our landscape from inappropriate development.'

After the meeting, Mr Cosh told the Times his company would be appealing against the decision.

'We feel we have a very strong case. We will see what happens from here,' he said.