South Oxfordshire District Council should "get to grips" with solar farms to avoid villages becoming "overwhelmed", says a district councillor.

Caroline Newton represents Tetsworth, where two applications have recently been approved to allocate around 150 hectares of land for solar panels.

The other villages in her ward - including Lewknor, Milton, and Postcombe - are also being considered as potential sites.

READ MORE: Refusal of bathing water status in Wallingford 'baffling'

Cllr Newton said: “We’re trying to stop areas being overwhelmed by solar farms.

“This has all been over the last couple of years. It’s fair to say that the parish councils would not have objected to one, but it’s the sense that there’s just a rush of them.

“There has been an accumulation of solar panels. People say its temporary but its 30 to 40 years. I probably won’t see those fields return.

“They are also over three metres high, and while they allow for existing footpaths, it means you are walking through tunnels rather than open countryside. They could be very imposing.”

Cllr Newton said villagers in Tetsworth were concerned about how solar farms would affect the landscape.

She said: “They’re really worried about a third of the area of their village being turned into solar farms and the impact that will have on a valued landscape.”

In Lewknor, she said villagers were concerned that solar farms would blight views from the Aston Rowant nature reserve, which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

At a full district council meeting on Tuesday, March 14, Cllr Newton proposed a motion – which was passed - for planning officers to fully consider the impact of solar farms on communities.

The motion said planning policies should balance the benefits of solar power with the loss of agricultural land and valuable landscape.

It also called for limitations to excessive massing of solar farms in any area of the district, and encouraged the use of rooftop solar panels.

Cllr Newton said: “I want solar panels to be used on roofs and also dispersed in areas where they are possible.

“There are a couple of farms in Chalgrove where you can’t see it because they are obscured by the landscape and the lay of the land.

“The motion was to say that when officials work on the next local plan, they should include policies that reduce the cumulative impact on areas where there is a lot of solar farms.”

A spokeswoman for the district council said: “As with all planning applications, we refer to planning policies in our Local Plan 2035 alongside government advice, to assess solar farm applications that fall within the district council’s planning remit.

"We have planning policies that support renewable energy schemes and policies on, for example, landscape, agricultural land, biodiversity, the historic environment and residential amenity.

"Proposals are considered against these policies which include how they impact on local communities.

You can find out more from page 206 of our Local Plan 2035.”