Developers want to turn one of the most visible ridges in our parish into a 40-acre sea of solar panels. Help us stop them.
Public Consultation: Thursday 14 May 2026 at the Royal British Legion, Coleford from 3 pm to 7 pm.
View of the proposed Hackmead development from Ammerdown Column, a designated heritage site.
WHAT'S HAPPENING?
A new planning application proposes 40 acres of ground-mounted solar panels at Hackmead Farm, on the Jolliffe Estate, between Charlton and Holcombe. It includes security fencing, CCTV, access tracks and underground cabling that ties into the substation already approved next door at Ash Farm.
Together with the 16 acres already approved at Ash Farm, that is more than 56 acres of industrial solar on a single ridge — and the developer's leaflet does not make the connection clear. This is Phase 2 of a creeping development that was never disclosed in Phase 1. Where will it go next?
Map of proposed phase 2 development with proximity to local villages.
WHY THIS MATTERS
A landscape, scarred for a generation.
The site sits on an exposed ridge visible from miles away: Westfield, Radstock, Haydon, Kilmersdon, Writhlington, Peasedown St. John, and Ammerdown Column.
Prime farmland inside a wildlife area.
Roughly a third of the site is Best and Most Versatile farmland. This high-quality land should be used for food security, not industrial development. It will also impact wildlife.
WHERE WE STAND
We are fully supportive of solar power as part of a diverse UK energy mix and to reach a net-zero grid by 2050. Solar farms must be sited in the right place: balancing landscape, agriculture, ecology and the local community. This development is driven simply by the desire for profits.
This campaign is not anti-solar; it is anti-bad-siting.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Join our WhatsApp group so you get every update the moment it lands.
Attend the public consultation on Thursday 14 May 2026.
Tell your neighbours! The single most important thing right now is to make sure no one in our parish hears about this for the first time after the deadline.
WHO WE ARE
We are a non-profit community group, just forming, made up of residents of Kilmersdon, Charlton, Holcombe and the surrounding parishes. We have no funding, no political affiliation and no axe to grind. We are not anti-solar, we're pro-solar in the right places. We'd love to set up a community-owned solar project for our parish, sensibly sited and with profits staying local. If you have experience of community energy schemes, planning, finance or grants, please contact us.