NATURAL England has warned that plans for a solar farm at Lytchett Minster has the potential for “likely significant effects” on nearby nature conservation sites.

It suggests that if the application is to go ahead a full Environmental Impact Assessment would be needed.

It lists the areas likely to be affected as Upton Heath Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Poole Harbour SSSI, Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Dorset AoNB and the Purbeck Heritage Coast.

Read more: Residents attended a public consultation for a solar farm near Upton

Agents acting for the developers argue that the site falls outside the legal definitions and does not require an environmental impact assessment.

Dorset Council is being asked to rule whether or not the assessment is required.

Lytchett Minster and Upton Parish Council has said it would recommend refusing the scheme and has backed the call for a full environmental impact assessment.

Fields at Post Farm, Lytchett Minster have been ear-marked for hundreds of panels to generate16.83MWatts of power, enough for around 8,000 homes, with an associated 22MWatt battery storage facility on a one hectare site.

Read more: Plans for huge solar farm on green belt land off A35 to be unveiled in full today

The 22 hectare site is in two parcels just off the A35 to the south of Beacon Hill and close to the Harbour View crematorium.

The idea has already led to opposition from neighbours, one of which claims she would be “blinded” by the glare from the panels, and the county branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Ward councillor Alex Brenton has asked for the application to be decided by a committee of councillors, rather than planning officers alone.

Landowner Clare Lees from Post Green House says initial proposals have been changed to move the solar panels further away from homes – but says that the site chosen is ideal because it is close to the electricity sub-station at Beacon Hill.

Read more: Hurn incinerator plan is approved for Chapel Lane

She says that other panels on her land have proved to be an attraction for both insects and small birds: “It is completely wrong to suggest the panels are anything other than enormously beneficial to the environment,” she has told Dorset Council in a statement.

Chairman of the Purbeck and Poole CPRE group, Gerald Rigler, claims in his objection that the Green Belt land should be kept as it is “to protect the westward sprawl of the conurbation.”

The application comes from S4N Lytchett Ltd which says that the solar photovoltaic arrays will be ground mounted, laid out in east/west, facing south. Five inverters, typically based on 40-foot shipping containers, are proposed for the site to convert the DC current generated by the solar modules into AC current, which in turn is then passed via two substations to the national grid.

It says the battery storage facility will comprise of around 19 battery units, housed in containers of 12.2 m long by 2.44 m wide and 2.9 m high and covering an approximate area of 2 – 3 acres. Switchgear will also be required to support this.

No external lighting is proposed although the main solar array site will be surrounded by 2.2m deer-proof galvanised steel wire with the battery area enclosed by palisade fencing for additional security.