PARISH councils have raised concerns over plans for a solar farm in Maldon.

Plans were submitted earlier this month to build a solar photovoltaic (PV) farm near Maldon.

Maldon Wycke Solar Farm would have a capacity of about 25 megawatts to produce enough renewable electricity to power more than 8,300 homes.

More positive feedback for the solar farm has been received from the community than negative, according to a report submitted with the plans.

The 89-acre site off Hazeleigh Hall Lane is predominately moderate quality agricultural land.

READ MORE: Plans for solar farm in Maldon which could power 8,000 homes revealed

Purleigh Parish Council has recommended refusal of the application as it says the bid will remove "valuable" agricultural land from the local and national food production network.

It believes a better solution would be to require all new homes in the district to have solar panels.

Woodham Mortimer with Hazeleigh Parish Council raised no objection to the plans but said councillors had concerns.

One of these is over the levels of noise pollution and the "detrimental" effect it would have on surrounding wildlife habitats.

It also noted consideration should be given for appropriate widths of the public footpaths across the site to be specified so they don't become "oversaturated and unusable during seasonal weather conditions".

However, assessments submitted with the plans suggest there are “no unacceptable environmental impacts” and there are instead a number of added benefits, including habitat creation and biodiversity gains.

Maldon District Council will have the final say on the plans.