If approved, the area could see around 185,000 solar panels standing 2.8 metres high, with a substation, fencing and CCTV cameras.

Such a development would represent industrialisation on a massive scale in a wholly inappropriate area of the county.

The Severn Vale already has a large solar array at Hill House Farm, Cambridge and applications for others close to Cam and Dursley railway station and Newport.

CPRE Gloucestershire feels that planners should be considering the cumulative impact of solar arrays on the whole Severn Vale, not each bank in isolation, as both sides of the valley have escarpments with outstanding views.

CPRE Gloucestershire supports the use of sustainable energy generation, including PV solar panels, but the sheer scale of the proposed development, which would occupy almost the whole of the beautiful Awre peninsula, would blight the landscape, potentially jeopardising the Forest of Dean’s tourist economy.

The planning application suggests that the area is well screened. This claim is exaggerated. Such a solar array will be visible from 5 km away, and further in the winter months when the leaves have fallen. This area offers some of the most striking views in Gloucestershire, in fact this is the first dramatic bend of the Severn going inland and it would be a tragedy if these views were lost forever.