The Whitewater Valley Conservation Society recognises the urgent need for renewable energy sources and storage for the UK, and the importance of the drive to a low carbon world. Our view is that this should be achieved in a way that does not remove the best and most versatile agricultural land from local food production, destroy rural landscapes, or harm the natural environment.

We are in full support of small-scale solar projects that already exist in our area, ones that are sensitive to the rural nature of the Whitewater Valley and do not create major landscape changes.

We understand that the rush to develop industrial-scale solar plants in our area is being driven by spare capacity at a nearby substation. There are many sites both in Hampshire and further afield – existing developed brownfield sites and land surrounding transport infrastructure such as motorways and railways – that would provide lower-impact options for large commercial solar plants.

Five utility-scale schemes on our doorstep

Five utility-scale 50MW solar farm schemes in the vicinity of Hook, Odiham, Greywell, Upton Grey and Long Sutton in Hart District have been promoted by different developers. Four of these proposals are in the Whitewater Valley, where they would affect the countryside and landscape of the valley, the ecological quality of the River Whitewater chalk stream, and its natural amenity value.

  • Bunker’s Hill, Rotherwick, Hook: full planning application granted in November 2021, despite the Society’s objection. See our 2025 complaint and the 2026 call to action.
  • Chosley Farm, Bidden Road, North Warnborough: full planning application granted in November 2021; read our objection and updates.
  • Ford Farm, Long Sutton, Upton Grey: an Environmental Impact Assessment will be required.
  • Holt Lane, Holt Farm, Hook: pre-application advice indicated that considerably more information would be required for a full application.
  • Kiln Fields, Heckfield, Hook: received approval of a full planning application in July 2022.

We follow every scheme through the planning process and publish updates as they happen; see the latest news.