Estate Matters S2 Ep1: Estates MD at Blenheim Palace Roy Cox | History will judge us on solar farm plans
History will judge landed estates that press ahead with ambitious renewable energy projects kindly, Blenheim Palace managing director Roy Cox tells the latest episode of KOR Communications’ Estate Matters podcast.
As the 12,000-acre estate awaits a decision on its proposed solar farm at Botley West, Oxfordshire, Roy spoke to podcast host Anna Byles and KOR’s Senior Consultant for Public Affairs, Andrew Howard about the project which could deliver 840 megawatts (MW) of clean, affordable power to the National Grid.
The plan has attracted considerable criticism and national attention as one of the biggest schemes of its kind in the country. Roy admits the rigid planning process governing nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) prevented Blenheim adopting its usual proactive approach to communication with the local community.
He tells Anna: “We spent a huge amount of time … building up relationships with local communities and there is one lens that says - almost overnight when we launched Botley West in the way we were obliged to do it at the time - we eroded quite a lot of that local confidence that had been built up.
“We had our stakeholders, our politicians coming to us and going ‘Roy, why didn’t you tell us about this sooner, you could have engaged with us in a different way…’”
But he tells the podcast the rules governing the process for NSIPs, which takes control out of the hands of local planners and gives it to a planning inspector, meant it was not possible to discuss the scheme until letters dropped onto the doormats of people in the area.
Some of the criticism had been personal, levelled at him and other people at Blenheim, he said, explaining it was a “tried and tested” tactic of opponents of schemes like Botley West and other developments to “make it personal” in the hope of making those behind the schemes uncomfortable and ready to change tack.
Nevertheless, Roy is confident that while there is a vocal minority opposed to the project most people understand the need to decarbonise the energy supply and are supportive.
“Let us say that it has been challenging locally.” he says “But if you look at the actual statistics there is a very, very small proportion of local communities who are against this project. The overwhelming majority of them support the project, understand the arguments and frankly just want us to get on with it now.”
Andrew tells the podcast that it is possible for communities to bring some influence to bear on a solar scheme, through discussing the types of wildflowers and trees planted on a site and discussing the best use of community fund investment provided by the developer.
But he and Roy agree that fundamental questions, about where solar farms are sited and why they are needed are determined by the nature of the national grid and the need for clean energy and are to a very large extent, non-negotiable.
Roy started his career at chartered surveyors Smiths Gore after studying agriculture and business management at Reading University. He joined the rural team at Blenheim, home to the Dukes of Marlborough since the 17th century, 12 years ago and rose to become managing director.
He tells the podcast that although many landed estates communicate their role within their communities very well, the sector as a whole is not always good at explaining to neighbours and stakeholders what they do and why they do it.
But he said land and estate owners had an obligation to make a major contribution to tackling the challenges of the times, including restoring nature, releasing land for housing and generating renewable energy.
“We have to be bold” he says. “Landed Estates represent around 30% of the UK land mass, so people like us are almost obliged to do it. I’m pretty confident that when people look back on us in 40 years’ time they will say ‘why didn’t you so that sooner; why didn’t you do that larger.”
He is proud of the work that Blenheim is doing in reducing its carbon footprint. The Estate is on course to be carbon neutral by 2027. He said making even small changes – especially those that are highly visible to visitors – helped drive home the message about helping the environment, from banning disposable coffee cups to running the generators for the Christmas light show on recycled cooking oil.
He is also proud of the role the Estate plays in the local economy, directly responsible for injecting £170m every year, directly employing around 600 people and having an influence over a further 3,500 jobs.
Some one million visitors a year visit the Palace and grounds and the Estate is also a significant real estate business, building and owning property as well as operating farms, both tenanted and in-house, and planting and managing woodland.
The interconnected nature of running an Estate is important, Roy says. As an example he says it often helps to ‘zoom out’ realising, for example, where a new housing development can link up with a woodland area it provides outdoor space for new residents to enjoy. “If you look at the bigger picture you see that each part of the business can influence other parts, to the benefit of the whole community,” he says.
While the Estate, once home to wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, manages its history carefully, it is also at the cutting edge of technology, developing a vertical farm for tree saplings and this year (2025) planting out some 60,000 broadleaved native trees, all grown vertically using a highly efficient system that Roy believes can be rolled out to other parts of the world.
Roy says that having a clear set of principles by which you operate is crucial for any landed estate and will, in the end, win any argument.
He concludes: “If you can begin to articulate some of those arguments you can begin to make sure that the percentage of local communities who are supporting you and understanding you is far greater. It all comes back to, if you stick to a true purpose…more often than not history will judge you fairly.”