Devizes Solar Ltd - a subsidiary of London-based Ampyr Solar Europe - was applying to build a 13.5MW solar array on 29 hectares of land half a mile outside Poulshot.

The development, which would take around six months to construct, would include four banks of 'tracker' solar panels that follow the sun throughout the day. The panels would measure three metres tall (10 ft) at their highest.

The site would be surrounded by two metre high security fencing and CCTV with infrared capabilities.

A substation would be built to the north of the site and an underground cable would carry the generated power 1.8 km north east to the electricity grid.

The proposal was being examined by members of the council's strategic planning committee - a cross-party group of councillors that determines the most significant planning applications.

The landscape officer told the meeting he had checked the proposed site against a checklist of nine criteria and found only two met the threshold of concern. "I didn't feel this could be prescribed as a valued landscape," he told councillors.

But under questioning from committee member Chris Newbury (Conservative, Wylye Valley), the officer admitted he had not visited the site, and his assessment had been completed from his office.

"I'm struggling to understand," said Cllr Newbury. "Desktop-based means sitting at a desk in County Hall?"

"Yes, you have to use the landscape character assessments that have been produced by the council," the officer replied.

"If I had concerns over the visual impact, which I didn't, I would go on a site visit."

Applicant Michael Breslaw said the solar farm would "provide 5,000 homes a year with clean electricity," while his agent, Martin Pollard, said the scheme would "deliver much-needed benefits with minimal landscape and visual impacts."

There would be biodiversity net gains of 113 per cent for habitat units and 25 per cent for hedgerows.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England begged to differ on the officer's and applicant's assessment.

"We strongly support renewables, but only in the right place, and this is not the right place, " said Mary Gilmore of Wiltshire CPRE.

"The site sits within the rolling clay land of the Wiltshire landscape, recognised for its intrinsic rural beauty.

"At the size of 40 football pitches, this (proposal) is not small scale. It would transform open farmland into an industrial zone."

Nick Stokes, of Worton Parish Council, said he was concerned that construction access would be via the C20, an "extremely busy road which is used by traffic from Salisbury to the south and Melksham and Chippenham to the north as a cut-through to avoid Devizes."

More than 500 cars an hour use it during peak times, at speeds of up to 60mph, he told the committee.

Despite traffic calming measures, he said, the C20 remains "a very dangerous road" and in the last two months there have been six accidents including one fatality. Parked cars have been written off or badly damaged.

Liz Bissett, on behalf of Poulshot Parish Council, said she represented "hundreds of local residents who strongly object to the proposal."

"Poulshot already hosts an 80 acre solar farm," she said. "Adding another 40 acres would mean eight per cent of the parish is covered in solar panels - equivalent to 96 football pitches. This is excessive for a small rural village."

The county councillor for the villages, Tamara Reay (Conservative, Devizes Rural West), told the committee: "Today you have heard information that only local people could know, and I would urge you to take that into consideration."

Cllr Nick Holder (Conservative, Bowerhill) said: "It is disappointing that there is nothing in the report around accidents through the village." He was also disappointed that no-one from the council's highways team was at the meeting to answer questions.

"I do find it extremely frustrating that there is always a reference to construction traffic management plan but that we never see that plan," he said.

He proposed adding a condition to planning consent that there should be consultation with parish councils over the construction traffic management plan.

Councillors permitted the application by five votes to three with one abstention.