Campaigners have called on King Charles to help them stop Britain’s biggest solar farm set to spread across the Blenheim Estate where Sir Winston Churchill was born.
The £800million Botley West project is expected to cover almost 3,500 acres of land in Oxfordshire with solar panels.
This includes 2,000 acres of the Blenheim Estate, which the Duke of Marlborough’s half-brother Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill, who runs the property, has agreed to lease.
Locals branded the plans an outrage and Tim Summer has written a letter to the King citing an act from the early 18th century to explain that he must intervene.
He claimed that the Blenheim Estate does not officially own the land, explaining that it is leased by the Crown to the Duke of Marlborough.
He supports this claim using the 1705 Queen Anne Act of Parliament, which gave the Blenheim Estate to John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough.
Mr Summer said: ‘Leasing and giving ownership of Blenheim land to a third party who will directly enjoy financial benefits is against the 1705 Queen Anne Act.
‘I therefore humbly ask that the Crown steps in to enforce its ownership of the Blenheim Estate as Queen Anne intended and refuses the Blenheim Estate land to be handed over to any third party.’
Pictured: An artist’s impression of the view once the £800million Botley West project is built
Campaigners have called on King Charles to help them stop Britain’s biggest solar farm set to spread across the Blenheim Estate where Sir Winston Churchill was born
If the Blenheim Palace plan goes ahead, protesters said children being born now will be middle-aged before they see the green fields surrounding their homes
Since May, the Planning Inspectorate has been examining the scheme and will eventually send a recommendation to Energy and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband.
The King, a lifelong environmental campaigner has not commented on the Botley West project.
But the argument was presented at a hearing in Oxford and the Planning Inspectorate has asked for further clarification from Blenheim.
A spokesperson for the estate said: ‘We are aware of the comments made during the public examination which are not correct in relation to this project.’
The Unesco world heritage site of Blenheim Palace is set to be surrounded by Britain’s largest solar panel park
Left: The view from Purwell Farm over the Evenlode valley towards Church Hanborough. Right: An artist’s impression of the view once the solar farm is built
The King, has installed solar panels at Windsor Castle and a solar farm on a former horse grazing paddock at Sandringham.
If the Blenheim Palace plan goes ahead, protesters said children being born now will be middle-aged before they see the green fields surrounding their homes.
Meanwhile, Blenheim Estate is set to make £128million from leasing their land to German company Photovolt Development Partners (PVDP), which has created UK company SolarFive Ltd specially for the project.
At the moment Blenheim are said to make £150 per acre per year from its land.
The area in red denotes where solar panels will be placed on the massive solar project
Sir Winston Churchill’s ancestral home is Blenheim Palace and he is said to have cherished views in the area
PVDP said the going rate for leasing land for solar panels is £1,000 per acre, a 567 per cent increase.
Mark Owen-Lloyd the director of PVDP said: ‘Should the project be granted consent, Photovolt will become one of many tenants of the Blenheim Estate, who have leased their land for centuries.
‘The restrictions apply only to the World Heritage Site that is Blenheim Palace, which will of course have no solar panels installed on it.’
More than 11,000 homes across 15 villages within a mile of the panels will be affected, with the panels visible from most of the land in the 60 square miles surrounding the massive solar farm.
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Campaigners call on King Charles to help them stop Britain’s biggest solar farm as £800m 3,500-acre project is set to spread across Winston Churchill’s Blenheim birthplace