Tell Blenheim to Make Botley West Solar Farm Fair
Botley West is a proposed large-scale solar farm in Oxfordshire. If approved, it will be built mostly on Blenheim Estate land.
It will generate clean energy and significant profits for developers. Yet local people living nearby are being offered far too little.
In April 2025, we launched a campaign and petition to address this, calling for 2% of project revenue to be allocated directly to communities. Find out more about the campaign below.
Campaign Update: Petition Closed and New Developments
We have now closed the petition, having reached 1,000 signatures as of June 2025. Thank you to everyone who signed, shared, and supported the campaign – your voices have made a real impact.
The petition has been formally shared with Blenheim Estate and PVDP, the proposed developers of the Botley West site.
On 9 June, a media announcement revealed that the community benefit funding offer has more than doubled to £440,000 per year. While this is a significant increase, we believe it still falls short of what would be fair and proportionate for communities.
You can read our full response and latest update in this blog post.
About the campaign
We launched the petition in April 2025, calling for Blenheim Estate to use its influence to secure a better community benefit deal from the developers – one that reflects the project’s scale and supports local communities.
Our Ask
We called for 2% of project revenue to be invested directly in local communities. This funding could mean more energy efficiency, more climate action, and more support where it’s most needed.
What happened?
- 1,000 supporters added their names to the petition.
- We worked closely with community groups Sustainable Woodstock and GreenTEA to raise awareness of the campaign.
- We shared an open letter and public document A Legacy of Leadership with Blenheim Estate highlighting their unique position to push for a fairer outcome.
- We spoke at the Open Floor Hearing, emphasising our call for a fairer community benefit model.
- The campaign gained media coverage (BBC).
- The community benefit offer increased from £200,000 to £440,000 as announced in the media and you can read our response here.
Botley West Solar will have a huge impact by producing low-carbon clean energy, transforming the local countryside and producing huge profits for the investors. With no legal requirement for these schemes for a community benefit fund yet in England, Sustainable Woodstock supports this petition for a fairer and more substantial community benefit fund.
Sustainable Woodstock
What’s next?
The petition is now closed and the results have been delivered to Blenheim Estate and PVDP. We will continue to monitor progress on community benefit outcomes and advocate for a fair and impactful model. We will also continue to contribute to national policy discussions.
We will:
- Respond to the recent government Working Paper on Community Benefits and Shared Ownership for Low Carbon Energy Infrastructure’
- Encourage the creation of an independent board to manage any community benefit funds, should the project go ahead.
- Advocate for any funds to be used to support the decarbonisation of homes, businesses, schools and to tackle fuel poverty.
Green TEA’s work with the Low Carbon Hub over many years has shown us the enormous benefits that can flow from community owned renewable installations. We were shocked to learn that there is no requirement for community benefit in England, even from such enormous and profitable schemes such as Botley West. We fully support this petition to ask for a fairer deal to the communities which would host this vital national infrastructure.
GreenTEA Community Group, Eynsham
FAQs (Archive)
Here’s some questions that have been raised by our friends in the community about our petition to make Botley West Solar Farm fair.
Why is the petition addressed to Blenheim?
As the main landowner, Blenheim Estate has the power to influence what kind of deal the community gets. We’re calling on them to use that power to secure something fairer.
That means standing up for the people who will live alongside this development – and demanding an outcome that reflects the scale of the project and delivers lasting benefits.
Why is the petition asking for 2% of revenue to be offered as funding for the community?
We’re asking for 2% of the project’s revenue to be invested directly into local communities because we feel this is a fair and realistic target for all parties. Having a percentage means a funding stream that grows with the project’s success – not a one-off figure that isn’t linked to the actual revenues of Botley West.
How much would 2% of revenue be?
Our very conservative figures show that in the first year 2% of revenue would create £840k in community benefit. This is four times more than what is currently being discussed between solar developers and government.
However, our understanding from the industry is that revenues of £100m per year are likely – 2% of which would create £2 million in community benefit. However, if managed well we think the actual revenue should be much higher than this.
Until the project is up and running, it’s very difficult to know what the revenue will be. Our proposed 2% of revenue model ensures communities receive a fair and proportionate benefit, one that is tied to the actual performance of the project – if that does well, then communities also benefit.
Why is Low Carbon Hub involved?
We’re not normally a campaigning organisation – but we feel that this is so important on a local (and national) level that we must take action.
We have over a decade of experience of delivering solar installations across Oxfordshire – with 100% of our project surplus being invested back into the community. This experience shows that renewables can benefit everyone, and we are passionate about ensuring the transition to a zero-carbon energy system is a fair one.
Will Low Carbon Hub benefit financially from more community funding from Botley West?
No, Low Carbon Hub will not benefit financially from an improved offer of community funding. Nor are we seeking to gain any percentage of community benefit funds ourselves.
However, as experts in delivery community benefit through our own renewable portfolio revenues, we could offer to administer the community benefit, at no fee or cost.
Is Low Carbon Hub for or against the Botley West project?
Low Carbon Hub has taken a neutral stance towards the Botley West proposal as a whole. Our aim has been to help local communities access further information relating to the potential impacts and benefits of the scheme to inform their own response to formal consultations. We have been acting entirely independently from the project.
I don’t live in Oxfordshire, why should I get involved?
There are more large-scale solar projects planned across the country. We want to help communities everywhere benefit from a better community benefit outcome. Getting this right here in Oxfordshire could help create a framework for what happens nationally. You can see the full list of large-scale projects and filter by solar here.
Who would decide how the community benefit gets used?
We think an independent board should be established, including representives from the community, to establish the best way to use the community benefit funds according to the needs of the community.
Aren’t the councils working on a community benefit negotiation?
West Oxfordshire District Council is supporting 15 parishes to get together and negotiate for a community benefit deal from the developers. We hope to complement their great work with this petition as we feel it’s important to ensure we are looking at all possible avenues to get a better deal for local communities.
How will Low Carbon Hub use my data?
We won’t use or share any of the data we collect in the petition unless this has been anonymised, or you give us your permission to share a quote supporting the petition. All of the data we collect will be stored in accordance with our privacy statement here.
News storyBlenheim: A legacy of leadership
Our Make Botley West Solar Farm Fair campaign is urging Blenheim Estate, the principal land owner of the proposed Botley West Solar Farm, one of the UK’s largest planned solar developments, to use their influence to push for a fairer community benefit deal from the project developers. In a public document and open letter that…