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A controversial solar array just metres from family homes has moved a significant step closer after Wiltshire Council approved the final pre-construction planning conditions needed before work can begin.
The MOD says solar arrays like the one at Perham Down – home of the 22 Engineer Regiment – will help it hit Net Zero by 2025.
The council has formally discharged conditions around construction management, environment, and ecology for the scheme on land beside Lambdown Terrace at Swinton Barracks.
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Planners were told the former horse-grazing paddock is home to “an exceptional population of reptiles” including slow worms – a protected species.
The development was granted planning permission in August and will see thousands of ground-mounted solar panels installed.
Consultees from highways, ecology and public protection were satisfied that the submitted construction and environmental management measures met the requirements imposed when permission was granted.
The latest decision means construction can proceed in accordance with the approved plans, although ecologists have warned the site supports an “exceptional population of reptiles”.
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While they accepted the submitted mitigation measures, they recommended monitoring during construction because there remains a residual risk of reptiles being harmed if they re-enter working areas.
The solar farm forms part of the Army’s Project Prometheus programme, which aims to increase renewable energy generation across the defence estate and help meet the MOD’s 2050 Net Zero targets.
The 1.64-hectare site lies adjacent to Lambdown Terrace and close to military housing.
Wiltshire Council’s original officer report acknowledged that the development would have a noticeable visual impact on nearby households.
However, planners concluded that the renewable energy benefits outweighed the harm, particularly after the design was revised to reduce the number of panels, alter their orientation and introduce additional landscaping.
The plans proved controversial during consultation, generating 57 letters of objection and only three letters of support.
Residents raised concerns about the loss of open views, impacts on wildlife, construction traffic, noise, and the proximity of the solar array to family accommodation.
Despite those objections, planning officers concluded that the relatively modest scale of the development, highway controls, landscaping measures and ecological mitigation were sufficient to make the scheme acceptable.
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— Gazette & Herald (@wiltsgazette) April 13, 2026
Swinton Barracks, opened as a military camp in 1915 and renamed in the 1970s after tank warfare pioneer Sir Ernest Swinton, remains one of the Army’s key engineering bases on Salisbury Plain.
The 22 Engineer Regiment provides armoured engineering support using specialist vehicles such as Titan bridge-layers and Trojan combat engineers.
Soldiers train for frontline operations and have served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Estonia.
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