Plans to build a solar farm the size of more than 90 football pitches could be given the go-ahead in Gloucestershire next week.

Elgin Energy EsCo Ltd wants permission to develop more than 160 acres of land to the south of Murrells End in Hartpury, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Carmelo Garcia.

They say their proposals would provide an export capacity of up to 49.9 megawatts of renewable energy and would help towards achieving ‘net zero’ target

The expected annual output would be enough to meet the electricity demand of around 14,000 average family homes, with the expectation that this will increase as households also become more energy efficient.

Consultants working on the scheme say the CO2 displacement of the annual electricity production of the generating station is around 29,940 tonnes compared to the same annual electricity usage from traditional fossil fuel sources.

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Councillors at the Forest of Dean District Council are due to consider the scheme at their development management meeting.

Council officers have recommended rejecting the scheme as it would lead to the loss of prime agricultural land and insufficient information has been provided to demonstrate that the proposal would not have an adverse impact on significant archaeological remains.

They also say the applicant has no provided enough evidence that protected species such as bats, dormice and great crested newts would not be affected by the proposals.

The parish councils of Hartpury, and Rudford and Highleadon have also objected to the scheme.

Among their concerns, they say the proposals are not appropriate due to the size and scale of the development.

The development management committee will debate the proposals at their meeting on March 14.