A PLAN for a solar farm at Ashwater has been approved by Torridge District Council, despite opposition from the community, including the parish council.

The solar farm will be on part of the land that makes up West Venn Farm in Ashwater. The application was received from Solar Securities Group Ltd on June 1 and was given the go-ahead on October 1.

The plan was resubmitted following refusal of an application in April for a solar farm with a capacity of 10.225MW on 19.7 hectares of land at West Venn Farm.

The new solar farm will cover 9.7 hectares (24 acres).

Penny Mills from CPRE Devon, claimed local residents’ and the parish council’s objections to the development were ‘ignored’.

She said: “Devon has over 4,000 acres in solar farms either already permitted or in the planning process — we neither need nor want them, we need our farmland for food production, not industrial power stations.”