A public meeting is being held this Saturday afternoon (March 12) to discuss the proposed 103-acre solar farm on farmland between Abergavenny and Raglan.

Llanover Community Council is organising the event at Llandewi Rhydderch Village Hall to discuss plans for the green energy farm on 11 fields at Great House Farm, Penpergwm, close to Welsh Gastropub of the Year, The Hardwick.

There will be a viewing of the site for those interested from a field near Mount Pleasant from 12 noon, followed by the meeting at 3pm.

A full planning application has now been submitted to the Welsh Government, who are dealing with it because of the size of the scheme.

Local campaign group ‘HUSTLE’ (Help Us Stop This Looming Eyesore) have compared the proposed solar farm to prisoner of war camp Colditz, and are consulting lawyers in a bid to try and stop the scheme.

And people now have until March 31 to make a comment on the plan submitted by Great House Energy Centre Limited, who claim the farm will power 11,180 homes.

HUSTLE say it will be an eyesore for miles around.

The site of the proposed renewable energy farm, north of the A40 dual carriageway and Old Raglan Road, is close to The Hardwick, owned by Gordon Ramsay’s best man, Stephen Terry, and sits 100m from the Grade II-listed 16th Century Great House and Parc Lettis barn.

GHECL says on its consultation website: “The project will generate enough electricity to power over 11,000 homes, and make a significant contribution to Welsh climate commitments…

“An estimated 18,000 tonnes of CO2 will be saved each year. The installation will result in no irreversible impacts,” they add, while its rural location means “few residential properties will experience impactful views”.

But HUSTLE say site plans, panoramic photos and professionally-produced drone footage show how the “intrusive solar arrays” will be visible.

For more information on the scheme go to https://penpergwmsolar.co.uk.

People can email comments, reference DNS/3252305 to the Welsh Government’s planning department at [email protected] or by writing to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales at Crown Buildings, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 4NQ.

They can also contact [email protected]