LARGE scale solar farms are a "blight on the countryside", environment Secretary Liz Truss said as she announced plans to axe a taxpayer subsidy to farmers and landowners for the schemes.

Ms Truss said she was concerned the "ugly" rows of solar panels were taking up land that could be used for food production.

The announcement will come as a welcome one to many residents in Worcestershire who have battled against planning applications for large scale farms.

Wychavon District Council rejected a proposal in September to install 75,920 solar panels on land off Longdon Hill, Wickhamford, by INRG (Solar Park) 14, saying it was a matter of "heat or eat".

And residents in Great Comberton fought against early plans to cover nearly 100 acres of land with solar panels resulting in the applicant withdrawing any proposals in July this year.

Speaking at the weekend the Environment Secretary said she would end grants worth £2 million a year available via her department from the European Union's Common Agriculture Policy.

Ms Truss told a national newspaper on Sunday: "I want Britain to lead the world in food and farming and to do that we need enough productive agricultural land.

'I'm very concerned that a lot of our land is being taken up with solar farms. We've already got 250 of them and we've got 10,000 football pitches worth of new solar farms in the pipeline."

She said the solar farms are "ugly, a blight on the countryside" as she signalled the end of the £100 an acre grant.

"Food and farming is our number one manufacturing industry, the whole food chain represents £100 billion in our economy, and it is a real problem if we are using productive agricultural land for solar farms," she added.