A power company has submitted a formal planning application for a solar farm almost two years after it first announced its intention to build one.

Renewable Connections Ltd held a public exhibition of its plans to create Mathurst Solar Farm south west of Staplehurst in July, 2022.

Since then it has refined its proposals, which now show solar panels covering 22.5 hectares a mile east of Curtisden Green.

The company said it had carried out a “meaningful consultation exercise” in respect of the development, primarily focused on the local community, and had “listened to the views expressed”.

As a result, it had made changes, including reducing the site boundary to retain an orchard, moving the site access and providing more detail on the construction plans.

The full details can be viewed on Maidstone council’s planning website under application number 24/502235.

Because of its proximity to the border with Tunbridge Wells council, that borough’s residents are also being given the chance to comment on the plans. The application can be found on the Tunbridge Wells planning website under the reference number 24/01859.

The solar panels, which take up almost 56 acres, will generate 18MW, which the company said could power 6,000 homes and save 3,203 tonnes of CO2 in the first year of operation.

Access would be from Goudhurst Road. The applicants also seek permission to widen the lane leading to Goudhurst Road.

It is intended that the farm would be decommissioned after 40 years and returned to agriculture, and the applicants say it can still be used to graze sheep under the panels in the meantime.

The farm will be protected by 2.3m high fencing and CCTV. The solar panels would be no more than 3m high.

Lighting on the site would be provided for emergency use only and the site would not normally be lit at night.

Construction will take 20 weeks, with staff working Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings.

Once built, the site would need only three operational vehicle visits per week.

However, KCC, the highways authority, has placed a holding objection on the application saying it had “fundamental concerns” about the safe access of construction traffic to the site.

Lucie Speakman, who lives in Pristling Lane, opposite the site, was one of the first to object. She said: “We would have a direct view of the glinting panels and would hear the constant hum of the equipment and maintenance paraphernalia across our fields.

“It will entirely alter our, and many other people’s, experience of this beautiful area as we pass the heavily fenced site, carpeted acre upon acre with ranks of metal panels.”

Find out about planning applications that affect you at the Public Notice Portal.