The family of Tom Stuart-Smith, the award-winning garden designer, has lived at Serge Hill in Hertfordshire for four generations.
“After 65 years of living here I have to pinch myself at being so fortunate to live in such a haven,” said Stuart-Smith, who has won best in show at the Chelsea Flower Show three times.
But the gardener has voiced fears his “paradise” could be at risk if plans to build a 100-acre solar farm less than a mile away are approved by St Albans city and district council.
The company behind the Beechtree Junction scheme say it would generate 49.9 megawatts of energy, enough to power about 13,000 homes, for 40 years. The plans would also include the construction of an electricity substation about a quarter of a mile from Serge Hill, which is located close to the M1 motorway.
Stuart-Smith described the “huge” farm as a “short-sighted tragedy” given that there is already a separate application to fell part of a woodland a quarter of a mile away by the Centurion Club. The golf club, which reportedly charges fees of £6,000 a year, is planning to extend the championship course by ten holes.
“Next year marks 100 years since my grandfather Tom Motion bought Serge Hill. It’s hard to imagine what it might be like in another 100 years,” Stuart-Smith, 65, said.
“Within a mile we have one planning proposal to remove 40 acres of woodland for a golf course and another to cover about 100 acres with solar panels.
“We all need clean power. Not so sure about golf, but this seems a short-sighted tragedy. The future of open land on the urban fringe has to be as a resource for all.
“I’m not against the proposal in principle, but the current layout shown is completely indiscriminate and inconsiderate.”
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Stuart-Smith added: “Many people walk these lanes, they represent a green lung for the people around here and there are remarkable views over open landscape with fields and woods.” The landscape was “more like Dorset” than somewhere just 20 miles from London.
“There is one view I have always cherished from somewhere with the delightful name of Ragged Hall Lane. Under the proposal, this view would now be over acres of solar panels,” he said.
Stuart-Smith said that although he was not a “nimby”, the scale of the project across 11 fields was wrong for the site.
The two projects would encroach on the land and ruin the local wooded beauty spot used by walkers and families, which is also known as a habitat for white admiral butterflies, he said.
Stuart-Smith joked that he was thankful to the “despotic” monarchs of the past for ensuring that so much of the area around London was preserved as green space, initially for hunting. He said a similar approach to protecting land from development was needed today.
The fields earmarked for use are classified as grade three agricultural land, meaning they are less likely to be profitable for growing crops. Sir Keir Starmer has said that Labour hopes to build on more “grey-belt” land to meet infrastructure targets.
Stuart-Smith, who has designed eight gold medal-winning gardens at Chelsea, created The Barn Garden at Serge Hill in the 1990s on his family’s estate and lives there with his wife, Sue, a psychotherapist.
In 2023, the couple began the Serge Hill Project, a not-for-profit community garden that aims to improve people’s mental health and creativity. He recently worked with the National Garden Scheme on a show garden at Chelsea, which Monty Don described as “sublime”.
Exagen, the applicants for the solar farm, has outlined plans on its website to create a wildflower meadow and allow local beekeeping groups to use hives on the site. Bird and bat boxes will also be installed and new hedgerows planted, the company says.
