CAMPAIGNERS fighting against plans for a solar farm the size of more than 100 football pitches have been given the support of their MP.

If approved, the development near Bramley would power 17,000 homes and save 8,000 cars worth of carbon dioxide.

The site in Minchens Lane, known as Bramley Firth, is more than 81 hectares in size and spans six fields to the north of the village. It has been recommended for planning approval from council planners.

Tomorrow (Saturday) residents in Bramley and Silchester have organised a demonstration to protest the construction of an industrial-sized solar farm – which is said to be the largest ever built on agricultural land in the UK.

If approved, it will be the entire size of Bramley itself and twice the size of Silchester. Campaigners say if it is approved it will also result in the loss heavily used community amenity land, including spoiling footpaths around Bramley Frith, including Brenda Parker Way and the Silchester Trail, a haven for wildlife, including herds of beautiful deer and six pairs of nesting Red Kites.

MP for North East Hampshire, Ranil Jayawardena said: "It's our duty to protect our environment for the next generation, so we must seize the huge potential of offshore wind to power our nation and not be blown off course."

Mr Jayawardena is encouraging people to write to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to have their say.

Simon Mahaffey, a local resident and councillor, said: “We must, of course, support the government’s drive to decarbonise the grid. But just as when we are considering housing developments, there are good proposals and there are bad ones….and, unfortunately, this one is the latter. We must not fall into the trap of thinking this is solar so it must be good. The situation is far more complex than that.”

He continued: “As an industrial installation this proposal will change the nature and character of two rural communities forever as well as seriously impacting Roman archaeological remains that could have national significance.”

Campaigners have been fighting proposals and have formed an alliance to push the borough council to do more to protect the countryside from a ‘sea of panels’.

Steve Spillane, secretary of the Solar Farm Residents Group campaign, said: “We are not against renewables and solar energy but right now there seems to be a policy conflict between maintaining the UK's food production levels and food security and the need to produce renewable energy.

"We also think that there is currently an incentivised developer gold-rush on highly productive arable land and the government has a clear policy conflict that it needs to balance."

Members of the local community, who are concerned about the impact of the proposed solar farm, are invited to meet up in Bramley at the Clift Meadow car park at 10.45am tomorrow (Saturday).

Councillors will decide the fate of the solar park application on April 20.