Permission was granted by Wiltshire Council at their Planning Meeting on Wednesday 27th November 2013 for a Solar Park at Blenches Mill, a 12.5 hectare site adjacent to the sewage treatment works and Westbury Business Park.
The initial planning application for the site was registered in November 2012 and was only recommended by the Council's Planning Officer after considerable investment in investigative works that included a bat surveys and extensive archaeology works.
The completed Blenches Mill Solar Park will see approximately 23,400 panels set out in rows to maximise sunlight and energy production, which will generate around to 5.85MW of electricity sufficient to meet the equivalent annual needs of 1740 typical UK households. The ground under and around the panels will be retained for agricultural purposes including sheep grazing, the footpath will remain and hedgerows will provide screening of the site and ecological benefits.
