A billionaire has won a planning battle with his neighbours to build a huge solar farm to power his 100-bed mansion.
Hedge fund owner Chris Rokos submitted the plans to transform 40 of the 4,500 acres of the house in Marlborough, Wiltshire, known as Tottenham House. It will also be undergoing renovations to restore the Grade 1 Listed property.
But concerned neighbours are up in arms over the council’s decision to approve the project, fearing it will be a ‘substantial visual and historical intrusion.’
Resident Richard Frics said: ‘The proposal will erode the special qualities of this Heritage Landscape. It will also set an undesirable precedent for future planning applications elsewhere in the country.
‘In addition it will be in direct view of the Grade 2 listed stable block. The glare from a three acre block of glass will massively change the outlook from this protected historic building.
‘Not only will it be situated in an AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) but also a Grade 2 Registered Park and Garden next to a Capability Brown landscape.’
Another neighbour, Mark Colquhoun, said the overall restoration of the property, which was on the register of Heritage Assets at Risk, is ‘an exemplary project.’
But he went on to say: ‘To place modern energy infrastructure here undermines the character and legibility of this protected setting, contrary to national and local heritage policies… It’s a substantial visual and historical intrusion.’
Plans have been approved to transform 40 of the 4,500 acres of the house in Marlborough, Wiltshire, known as Tottenham House, into a solar farm
The property is owned by billionaire hedge fund owner Chris Rokos (pictured)
Pictured: Mr Rokos’s plan for solar farm at Tottenham House, submitted to the council
Concerned neighbours are up in arms over the council’s decision to approve the project, fearing it will be a ‘substantial visual and historical intrusion’
Despite being located within the estate’s historic parkland, planners concluded the benefits of the project outweighed any harm to the heritage setting.
The proposed plot, situated on the northern boundary of the extensive plot, is currently used as pasture for dairy cows and for producing silage.
The site adjoins a public footpath which runs between the hamlet of Durley and St Katharine’s Church and primary school – though it is shielded from view by trees.
Once operational, the ground-mounted panels are expected to generate around 794,600 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to meet a significant share of the estate’s energy needs.
About 44 per cent of the electricity produced will be used on site, with the remainder exported to the local grid.
The scheme forms part of efforts to secure a more sustainable future for Tottenham House, one of Wiltshire’s most significant historic properties.
The array will be screened by existing woodland and new planting designed to reduce its visibility, while the panels will be mounted on screw piles rather than permanent concrete foundations. This means the installation could be removed in the future if required.
The land will also remain in agricultural use, with grazing able to continue around the panels.
The solar project was originally approved as part of a wider package of works that also includes a large water storage lagoon, a new mains water connection and landscape improvements across the estate.
While construction of the solar array can now proceed, further environmental management details will still need to be approved before work begins on other parts of the wider development, including the water lagoon and associated infrastructure.
The former owner of Tottenham House, the Earl of Cardigan David Brudenell-Bruce, sold the 4,500-acre Savernake Estate to a developer in 2014 for £11.25m after it had been in the same family for 200 years.
Tottenham House was part of the Savernake Estate, which dates back to the Norman Conquest when it was a Royal Hunting forest.