Nick Hamilton could be forced to close his famous Barnsdale Gardens (Image: SWNS)
Barnsdale Gardens could be forced to shut if plans for a giant solar power plant next door are approved. Nick Hamilton, son of the former Gardeners World presenter Geoff Hamilton, has expressed his fury over the energy plans surrounding his open gardens.
A 67-ace solar farm could descend on the land surrounding Barnsdale Gardens, established 40 years ago by Geoff.
Horticulturalist Nick now owns and runs the visitor attraction, yet he believes the solar plant would put customers off, bringing economic loss to the area.
Visitors flock each year to the picturesque gardens in Rutland, yet Nick believes placing 160,000 solar panels on farmland between Barnsdale Gardens and Rutland Wildlife Sanctuary will kill business.
He says the tranquillity of the attraction would quickly be shattered by the noisy machinery.
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The planning application for the solar plant. (Image: SWNS)
Nick fears his business would be killed. (Image: SWNS)
“Rather than have lovely views of crops and sky we will have panels,” Nick said.
“It will no longer be a rural environment.
“The panels are motorised to move with the sun and the noise will mean people having to raise their voices to talk to one another, never mind the fact it will eliminate birdsong.
“We are in a beautiful setting and we rely on return visitors but if people feel as if they are coming to an industrial estate, they are not going to come back.”
Nick took over Barnsdale Gardens following his father’s death in 1996. Between 1983 and 1996, Geoff presented the hit show, which became Britain’s largest collection of individually designed gardens and a familiar backdrop for millions of TV viewers every Friday night.
He continued: “We are one of the biggest tourist attractions in Rutland and we are also historically important for gardeners.
“Without visitors we can’t function and I don’t want Barnsdale to go down the plughole – I would end up buried in debt.”
Chris Lawton, who has managed the wildlife sanctuary for 25 years, has raised concern over the construction and maintenance noise from the solar plant which would affect the animals.
He said: “The birds of prey at our sanctuary have phenomenal hearing and so the noise from the panels would bother them constantly.
“We would notice a change in their behaviour.
“It’s not just the animals we look after, but the natural wildlife of the area would also suffer.
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Nick took over the attraction from his late father, Geoff Hamilton. (Image: SWNS)
Nick has run the site for 29 years. (Image: SWNS)
“There are ospreys that nest locally, and deer regularly cross from the woods near us over the land that they want to build on.”
The pair have now started a petition for people who oppose the development. Nick added: “We have lobbied our local councillors and are submitting objections using Rutland County Council’s planning portal.
“It’s a bit of a faff but I encourage others to do the same.
“The loss of these attractions and the 30,000-plus visitors that the gardens alone bring into the county each year will have a far larger effect on the local economy than Econergy’s pledged contributions.”
Ollie Smith, who lives next to the proposed site, has expressed his anger, labelling Rutland as “the battery of England” if plans are approved.
The dad-of-three said: “It’s not right. We should be covering car parks and roofs with panels, not farmland.
“Rutland can’t keep accepting more and more solar farms. The county has already done its bit.
“People have called Rutland The Notswolds because it is so attractive, like The Cotswolds, but it’s not going to have that appeal if solar panels cover such a wide area.”
Other locals have raised concern over noise pollution (Image: SWNS)
Following a community consultation in 2022, Humphrey Jamieson from Econergy said: “The views of the community have helped shape our proposals, and we have made several changes to the original indicative design in response to the feedback we received and additional environmental assessments.”
The changes included removing battery storage units from the plans, establishing a no-development buffer around parts of the site, which decreased its size, adding bat and bird boxes and wildflower planting, and paying the developer about £1million over the 40-year operational period for community-led improvements.
The company’s business rate payments to Rutland County Council would be about £125,000 yearly.
Upon approval of the plans, Econergy is expected to lease the land from Exton Estates and spend about seven weeks building the development.
Rutland County Council’s planning committee will make a final decision after February 25.