Somerset MP accuses developers of ‘railroading’ farmers to build solar farm
Washford solar farm plans under fire as MP warns of unfair treatment of local farmer
Last updated 4th Dec 2025
A Somerset MP has accused a developer of “railroading” a local farmer to ensure a major solar farm could be built.
Elgin Energy applied in December 2021 to build a new solar farm north of Tropiquaria Zoo on the A39, near the village of Washford, on land owned by the Wyndham Estate.
Somerset Council’s planning committee west (which makes decisions on major applications for the former Somerset West and Taunton area) threw out the plans in July 2023, citing the damage to protected landscapes and the loss of high-quality agricultural land.
This decision was, however, reversed by the Planning Inspectorate in late-May 2024, with inspector Callum Parker that both the Exmoor National Park and the Quantock Hills National Landscape would “not be adversely affected” by the proposals.
Tiverton and Minehead MP Rachel Gilmour (whose constituency includes the site) has now used parliamentary privilege to accuse the developers of misleading the council – and called on the government to create new legislation to prevent this from happening again.
Mrs Gilmour made her comments during a debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday evening (November 25) relating to the government’s English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.
She said: “In Washford, a farmer called Mr Dibble – no kidding – has a farm in his family’s name. They have been there for generations.
“Some time ago, developers came to see him with a plan for development on the farm, and he refused.
“His lease is guaranteed for another generation, but the solar farm developers did not seem to care. He reached out to me because of the unfairness of the situation.”
The planned solar farm will span several fields north of the Washford transmitting station, running from the B3190 Washford Hill to the Mineral Line active travel route, which connects Washford to the nearby town of Watchet.
Elgin Energy (which first consulted on the proposals back in May 2018) said the solar farm would provide around 25 million kWh of electricity per year – enough to provide power for 7,500 households.
A battery energy storage site will also be created near the site, allowing Elgin Energy to store surplus energy and sell it back to the National Grid at peak times.
Mrs Gilmour continued: “I was shocked to find out that the developers had organised a surveyor to visit his Mr Dibble’s property, who had deemed it sub-par agricultural land. Anyone with eyes can see that that is not the case.
“Farmer Dibble would not have been able to grow the crops that he has on that land, had it been of the quality that the developers claimed it was.
“His land is grade 1 or 2 at the very least, yet surveyors are coming in, paid for by the developers, to say that – surprise, surprise – it is grade 3 at best.”
Agricultural land in England and Wales is classified on a scale by Defra, with 1 being the ‘best and most versatile’ (meaning it can be used for growing a wide range of crops) and 5 being the worst (meaning it is difficult to use the land even for grazing sheep or other hardy animals).
National planning law discourages development on ‘best and most versatile’ agricultural land – but councils do not have any authority to order independent land quality assessment to ensure this is being followed.
Mrs Gilmour and other Liberal Democrat MPs have backed a new clause for the Bill, which would prevent developers from “using their own surveyors who have a vested interest in downgrading agricultural land in order to secure planning permission”.
She said: “If a development is proposed for agricultural land that falls outside the land use framework, and there are competing assessments of the agricultural grade of that land, this clause would give local authorities the power to demand that a new, independent assessment of land quality be undertaken.
“That would stop the railroading of farmers and help to preserve good agricultural land, rather than seeing it built over. Our farmers are our future.”