A Wiltshire man denied solar panels on his listed home is opposing a vast 2,200-acre solar farm planned nearby.
Tony Ward, who has lived in his Grade II listed property in Chippenham for 20 years, says he was refused permission in 2005 as panels would affect views from hot air balloons.
Now, he and thousands of residents oppose the Lime Down Solar project, backed by the Duke of Beaufort, which they claim will industrialise the countryside.
Wiltshire Council has strongly opposed the plan, citing environmental and planning concerns, with public consultation set to close on 19 March.
Tony Ward, who has lived in his Grade II listed property in Chippenham for 20 years, says he was refused permission in 2005 as panels would affect views from hot air balloons.
Now, he and thousands of residents oppose the Lime Down Solar project, backed by the Duke of Beaufort, which they claim will industrialise the countryside.
Wiltshire Council has strongly opposed the plan, citing environmental and planning concerns, with public consultation set to close on 19 March.
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00:00I'm Tony Ward and I've lived here at Sarendal. It's the only place in the world called Sarendal
00:13for 20 years and there's been people living here for thousands of years. This house has
00:20been here 400 years. Just behind us, coming up to 300 metres from the property, there's
00:26going to be 2,000 acres of solar panels, many of which are going to be 4.5 metres high.
00:33They're not the 1 metre high ones with grass halfway up them with sheep around them. The
00:38sheep won't last very long if there are sheep. It's an industrial site and it's a rape of
00:45the countryside. There's so much history around here. People come to enjoy the footpaths,
00:52the peace. There's going to be lights on the various panel developments and the battery
01:00developments and those are going to spoil the darkness. The night sky is so crisp and
01:07clear here. There's going to be humming from the panels and the batteries as I understand
01:13it. Wiltshire Council has put huge effort into footpaths around here, making them accessible
01:22to people so they can come and enjoy the peace and quiet we love and that we're trying
01:27to protect. When we moved in 20 years ago, we put in ground source effect heating which
01:34was run under the fields in front of the house. But behind the house, to defray the cost of
01:41the large pumps that are needed for ground source heating, we wanted to put solar panels
01:46on this log barn just behind us. Just a ribbon of solar panels along there. We understand
01:53why you can't put solar panels on a listed building on the stone roofs 400 years old,
01:59but this is a broken down cow barn and it needs a purpose to make it maintainable and
02:08give it a reason for being there. So the solar panels we thought were a good idea, but we
02:13were turned down on the grounds that balloons flying over the house would not be able properly
02:20to read the way the house had developed over the centuries. So we do get balloons flying
02:27over because the balloon industry at Bristol comes out towards Marlbury and sometimes they
02:34land, they've landed in our fields in the past. And now with this 2,000 acres in front
02:40of us, those balloons won't be able to come anymore. So we weren't allowed to put the
02:45panels on this otherwise not very purposeful space. And now 20 years later, the balloons
02:54that would have been upset can't even come because there's going to be vast amounts of
03:00countryside covered in panels.