Worried villagers say their 'rural paradise' is being destroyed by Britain's green energy rollout after plans for a vast, nearby solar farm were approved.

The project, near Selby, would cover 1,175 hectares of agricultural land making it one of the largest of its kind in the UK.

It was signed off by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband last month as part of the government's drive to ramp up renewable energy.

But neighbours say the Helios Solar Farm would devastate the village of Camblesforth - which already lives in the shadow of the huge Drax power station.

Louise Harrison looks over the fields she won’t be able to ride her horses in once the solar panels are built.

placeholder image — Louise Harrison looks over the fields she won’t be able to ride her horses in once the solar panels are built.

Families say they've suffered enough at the hands of green energy projects, with separate solar sites being built to the north and south of the village.

Gill Lindridge, 58, argued the new solar farm would encroach right up to the fence where her family's horses are kept in the field at the back of their three-bedroom property.

She said the house - with 10 acres of land, shelters, and a garden annexe - could have been worth up to £1m before the plans emerged.

Mrs Lindridge said: "We think it's taken off £300,000 from the value. We wouldn't be able to sell the house now and buy a new equestrian property."

Ed Miliband faces a High Court battle over plans to build a vast solar farm that residents have warned will destroy the countryside.

Her daughter, Kate Joy, 30, said the village already lives with a vast energy project on its doorstep, with Drax power station's huge cooling towers dominating the landscape.

Ms Joy said: "Do we really need more to look at? It will completely destroy our lives as we know it."

Drax, which is one of Britain's largest power plants, produces enough power to supply millions of homes. It was originally coal-fired but has been partly converted to biomass.

The new solar farm's battery storage system would be linked to the grid by an underground cable at Drax.

An application from Enso Energy and Cero Generation says the solar farm would generate enough electricity to power around 47,500 homes.

Ms Joy echoed concerns about the effect on property values, adding: "Ours would have been worth more before everyone knew about the solar panels."

Amid fears that bridleways and fields could disappear, Ms Joy said: "I had a lovely childhood riding horses here. But if the fields disappear, my six-year-old daughter Charlotte won't get to enjoy that."

Kate's mum Gill also shared fears about construction noise, having already been disturbed by building at nearby solar sites.

She said: "You could hear them putting another lot of solar panels up further away, so imagine how noisy it's going to be here."

Around a mile away, equestrian Louise Harrison, who has lived in her £600,000 three-bedroom home for 22 years, feared the property could lose around £120,000 in value.

She said: "There'll be so much noise when work starts. When you've lived somewhere like this for a long time, you get used to the quiet. You might hear pheasants squawking, but that's about it."

She added: "I have thought long and hard about moving, but it's got to the point where any potential buyers would be aware of the plans.

"I couldn't say to an equestrian that they'd have access to these bridleways, because they might not. We ride out from my fields on the horses up this track - there is a whole circuit of bridleways that could be lost or blocked by this."

The plans are facing a potential High Court challenge, with campaign group HALT (Halt All Large Transmission and Solar Farms) vowing to fight the development.

They are aiming to raise £15,000 in order to make a legal challenge, arguing that Selby is being unfairly targeted for large-scale green energy projects.

A separate proposal for the Light Valley Solar site - that campaigners are also protesting - stands just to the west of the town.

Joyce Morrill, 65, who has lived in Camblesforth since 1997 with husband Ken, 70, feared an influx of construction traffic could damage wildlife.

She said: "The field next to our house will just be gone. What about the birds and all the animals that are there?"

Mrs Morrill added: "Why would you want to live somewhere that's surrounded by solar panels? The house prices are going to drop. What incentive is there to live here?

"We moved here to be in the countryside, but it's not going to be very much fun walking around here now."

Energy Minister Martin McCluskey said: "Families in Yorkshire have seen their energy bills go through the roof as a result of our exposure to volatile gas prices.

"The only way to make British people better off in the long-term is by securing clean, homegrown power that we control.

"Giving the green light to the Helios Solar Farm is another step forward in our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, creating jobs, driving economic growth and protecting family finances."