Green Belt at Burcot Saved
8th December 2022
Image credit: The Friends of Burcot and Clifton Hampden
Planning permission for a solar farm at Burcot, South Oxfordshire has been refused, with South Oxfordshire District Council deciding:
The development is inappropriate development that would be harmful to the openness of the Green Belt and would conflict with the stated purposes of the Green Belt, particularly in respect of preventing neighbouring towns merging into one another and in assisting in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment.
The 56-hectare site faced strong opposition from local campaigners and CPRE Oxfordshire. The proposed site was high grade agricultural land in the Oxford Green Belt, covering an area the size of Berinsfield.
CPRE Oxfordshire acknowledges that climate change, energy security and fuel prices all mean that increasing renewable energy is vital. But we also need our countryside for food, wildlife and people’s health and well-being.
Solar panels should be on commercial roofs, new housing developments and brownfield sites, not Green Belt land.
We are calling for a county wide strategy so that we get what is needed in the right locations.
Read the Planning Decision Notice here.