Lightsource Seek Permission for a 1.8 MW Solar PV Farm Near Taunton

I was recently asked if I could provide "any advice to object to [a] proposed solar farm". The solar farm in question is being proposed by Lightsource Renewable Energy on an 11.6 acre site at Higher Knapp Farm near Taunton. The Design and Access Statement provided as part of the planning application states that:

The purpose of the development is to convert daylight into electricity. This solar development will have a generation capacity of approximately 1.8 megawatts (MW), which is enough to power 531 typical homes, and save approximately 906,404 kg in CO² emissions per annum.

Whilst this particular site is therefore below our usual 5 MW threshold, I have nonetheless taken this opportunity to add it to our interactive map and list of large scale solar PV projects in South West England. In part that's because my conversation with Vince got me thinking about how to make it easier for those uninitiated in the mysterious ways of Geographical Information Systems to access all the data openly available free of charge on the DEFRA Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside (MAGIC for short) web site.  After doing a bit of digging I've discovered how to link directly to just the right bits of information at an appropriate scale.  Consequently Higher Knapp Farm is the first solar PV site on our list to include a MAGIC link!  More such links will be added in the future, as time allows.