Thank you for your support ! We are still digesting what has happened today.

This morning, Chichester Planning Committee approved the solar development on farmland in Wisborough Green and Loxwood.

The scale of local opposition was significant: approximately 170 written objections, over 2,700 petition signatures, and unanimous objection from all local parish councils. The development conflicts with local plans, and the meeting documents acknowledged numerous negative impacts on the community during both construction and the 40-year operational lifetime.

During debate, councillors made telling comments:

 • “An accident waiting to happen”

 • “Likely that closures to public rights of way will be necessary”

 • “Unlikely to ever go back to farmland”

Yet despite recognising these harms, councillors cited central government directives requiring approval of renewable energy projects. This is what they called “the planning balance.”

If you believed local voices mattered or that resident safety was paramount, this decision reveals a different reality. When central government mandates something, it happens—regardless of local concerns.

If a proposal like this can pass in this particular area, I fear for rural communities nationwide.

This approval will likely encourage similar applications in areas more suitable for industrial development.

I understand the difficult position farmers face given the pressures they’ve endured. This decision may well prompt other landowners to reconsider their land use.

Investment companies will continue pursuing these projects for shareholder returns, courting landowners with financial incentives. Let’s be clear about their primary motivation: profit.

Notably absent from today’s discussion? Any meaningful debate about the benefits of solar farms—as if their value is simply assumed.

Winners and losers, as always. Perhaps this will motivate people to engage more actively in their communities. When you feel strongly about something but “just don’t have the time,” remember this outcome. By the time you notice surveyors in a nearby field, it may already be too late.

A battle lost but maybe not the war. With the tide turning against the imposition of these types of developments by central government it feels now like we are one of the last people shot in a war. But those of you who know the people behind the campaign will understand that we don’t take kindly to loosing. Shot but only injured.

#solarfarm