Solar farm scheme shot down (From Oxford Mail)

Solar farm scheme shot down

2:10pm Friday 10th February 2012 in Witney

A SOLAR farm scheme which could have forced a planned Spitfire squadron out of Oxfordshire has been rejected.

Enstone Flying Club and the Spitfire Club plan to build 12 replica Spitfires at Enstone Airfield.

But a scheme to build a 2.9-hectare solar farm across part of the runway could have forced the project to move out of the county.

West Oxfordshire District Council’s uplands area planning subcommittee rejected the scheme on Monday.

Councillors said it would have had an “unacceptable urbanising impact, harmful to the rural character” and would have a “material impact” on the airfield.

Enstone Flying Club owner Paul Fowler, the man behind the Spitfire scheme, said: “I am absolutely delighted. I had not slept in three or four days.”

He said having solar panels presented a “very significant hazard” to flying and may have caused the club to close.