FARMLAND could be turned into a £7m new 'solar park', generating enough electricity to power at least one third of the homes in Dartmouth.

The solar panels, mounted, on poles up to 10ft high would cover 36 acres – an area about the size of 18 football pitches – at Town Farm, Blackawton.

Under the plans, the power-generating panels would be sited on fields just north of the village and covering fields on both sides of one of the main roads into the area.

the power generating panels would be sited on fields just north of the village and covering areas both sides of one of the main roads into the village.

The project is being promoted by the Bristol-based Wessex Solar Energy, which is behind schemes to set up similar solar parks in near Torridge, North Devon, and Somerset which already have the go ahead.

The company outlined details of the project at a meeting of Blackawton parish council last week.

Now it is planning to launch a large scale consultation exercise involving local residents to canvas support for the major power-generating project.

Charlotte Peacock, a consultant working for Wessex Solar Energy who was at the Blackawton meeting, said that the town farm scheme would produce five megawatts of power which is the equivalent of enough electricity to power around 1,000 homes.

She explained that it was planned to write to local residents explaining the project in detail and inform them of the dates of a public information day.

'In terms of it becoming a reality we are at a very early stage. We are at the point where we have briefly spoken to the local authority.

It has been decided that the next stage was to talk to the parish council before deciding whether to go ahead with the proposed development.

'The feedback that we have had is that it is worth talking to the local residents to canvas their opinion. There are no firm plans as such yet.'

Just two members of the public turned up for the parish council meeting with Wessex Solar Energy.

Ms Peacock and Wessex Solar Energy director John Wearmouth were quizzed over concerns about glare from the solar panels, whether the project would turn the fields in an eyesore and whether they could continue to be used for agricultural purposes.

At the end of the presentation the parish councillors made it clear that while they strongly support the development of renewable energy sources they would not wish to see anything go ahead that would be unacceptably detrimental to the parish.

They also declared that: 'issues concerning the precise nature of the panels and their impact on the local environment need to be addressed in additional and thorough detail.'

Wessex Solar Energy advertises itself on its website as being a renewable energy developer involved in the development of solar park projects in the UK

It claims: 'We develop our projects in a way which we believe is mutually beneficial to all involved, including landowners. 

'We select our projects based on rigorous environmental and technical criteria.

Having selected a site which we believe is highly suitable we work with local authorities and parish councils to ensure the lowest possible environmental and social impact.

We aim to do this whilst achieving the highest levels of system performance, to make the most of the electricity generating potential of the sun at a given location.'