The company wants to install 22,000 solar panels. Photo: Photo: Bernd Sieker CC-BY-SA-2.0

Campaigners are objecting to plans to build a ‘solar farm’ in rural Somerset, close to the route of the East Mendip Way.

Solar energy company AEE Renewables has applied for permission to install 22,000 solar panels at Hurlingpot Farm at Chelynch in the Mendip Hills.

The installation would also include security fencing and associated equipment.

But the Open Spaces Society, Britain’s oldest national conservation body, said the plans would involve the effective industrialisation of a rural area.

General secretary Kate Ashbrook said: “We consider that a solar ‘farm’ of such proportion is inappropriate in this quiet, intimate countryside.

“It is tantamount to a new industrial development. It will be highly visible, covering three fields on the side of the prominent Ingsdons Hill, and the applicant’s photomontages do nothing to reassure us.

Kate Ashbrook: 'farm is euphemism'. Photo: Andrew McCloy

“The term ‘farm’ is a gross euphemism for what is proposed.

“In particular we are concerned about the adverse effect on people’s enjoyment of the area when they are using the public footpaths across and alongside the site.

“One of these is promoted as the Mendip Way, a 50-mile long-distance route from Weston Super Mare to Frome. It is used and enjoyed by thousands of residents and visitors each year and thus contributes to the local economy.

“The view from the path will be rendered most unpleasant by this development which may even deter people from using it.”

The decision on whether to grant planning consent will be made by Mendip District Council.

AEE’s headquarters are in Frankfurt in Germany and the company has offices in London, Bath and Istanbul.