Solar panels will be installed at Golden Cap Holiday Park in Seatown, near Bridport, after receiving planning permission from Dorset Council.

Owners West Dorset Leisure Holidays Ltd plan six rows of panels in a field within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), adjacent to a track leading to the sewage works and to the east of the park.

The site for the 420 panels covers about 1,300 square metres and should produce 273KW of power for the existing caravans, lodges and other buildings ad well as car charging points. Any excess power will be exported to the National Grid.

The proposal includes a mixture of hedging and trees to be added to the site to help screen the development from view, with the park owners claiming that the topography of the area means the panels will be hidden from most public paths in the area, apart from those immediately adjacent.

Chideock Parish Council supported the application with the AONB team saying that, while there would be some "localised harm" to the landscape, the features of the proposed site, including its physical proximity to other |unnatural" land uses, would moderate the effects.

Said a Dorset Council planning case officer, who recommended approval: "The proposal is considered acceptable in the landscape …the sensitivity of the site is tempered by the adjacent holiday park and sewage works."