Fundraiser to stop Otmoor Solar Farm

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM MAKING FURTHER DONATIONS AT THE PRESENT TIME AS WE HAVE HIT TARGET

In July 2024 Cherwell District Council turned down a planning application for a large solar array on productive farmland. The site is on greenbelt land between the villages of Noke and Oddington (near Bicester). As local villagers we thought all our hard campaigning work had paid off when the application was turned down.

The Council said that this development should not happen on green belt land, and that the applicants case for building on greenbelt land was not strong enough.

Now the applicants have appealed that decision. The appeal has gone to the Planning Inspectorate. This means the campaign against the plans has to start again and at a higher legal level.

Can you help us by making a donation?

Action Against Otmoor Solar Farm is a group of about 140 people who live in and around Otmoor in Oxfordshire. We were started by a core group of villagers from Noke and Oddington who have been fighting this development on green belt land since plans were first submitted in 2022.

Will you join us and make a donation to this campaign?

We are not opposed to the development of renewable energy sources or placement of large solar arrays on brownfield sites. We are opposed to the use of green belt land, particularly when it is productive farm land.

Because fighting the appeal requires knowledge of complex case law we have employed a firm of solicitors and are looking to appoint a land expert to support our case. We have legal bills to meet and this is why we need to fundraise. And we need to fundraise now as the hearing is on the 29th April. We need to pay our solicitors to represent us at the hearing.

We appreciate times are hard for many people but even a small donation helps. Small donations add up to £100, then £500 and soon we will be on our way to raising the £2,700 for our first legal bill. Our next cost will be the land expert (estimated at about £2,000), and then the cost of legal representation at the hearing so our arguments get a fair hearing. The ‘other side’ have spent thousands of pounds on appointing experts since 2022 and until now we have fought on our own.

So far some various generous individuals have made pledges towards our target of £7,500. Can you join them? Every donation helps – however large or small.

Our total might seem a lot but raising it will match all the many hours that have been put in so far by a small group of volunteers. We are not expecting anything back, but we cannot afford to foot the costs of fighting this green belt development on our own. Will you join us and make a small donation?

Sally McQuillan has kindly offered to collect funds on behalf of ‘Action Against Otmoor Solar Farm’ as we are not a registered charity!