Western Morning News (Saturday)
Solar opponents fight to ‘stop industrialisation of countryside’
Battle lines are being drawn over new solar panel plans, reports Edward Oldfield
COUNTRYSIDE campaigners are gearing up for another battle to halt the spread of solar panels across Westcountry farmland. They say the installations are not as green as their supporters claim and they are determined to stop the loss of more farmland to the rows of dark panels already filling hundreds of acres.
Many landowners are happy to rent out their fields, and the industry says the solar schemes are an important source of clean energy as the UK moves away from fossil fuels for generating power, with the aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 in an effort to limit global warming.
But earlier this month, local planners in Mid Devon ignored advice from their officers and refused a 150acre scheme on fields at Langford, near Cullompton, which would have been the biggest yet in the county.
A fortnight earlier, Cornwall Council turned down an application for solar panels on farmland near St Austell, close to an area of outstanding natural beauty.
In both cases, councillors agreed with objectors that the schemes would cause unacceptable harm to the local landscape.
Although both decisions could be overturned on appeal, campaigners are hopeful that their arguments against the new phase of large solar schemes are at last being taken more seriously.
Attention is now turning to a planning application for a solar farm which would be the biggest yet in Devon, covering 28 fields at Derril Water at Pyworthy, near Holsworthy, close to the River Tamar, the border with Cornwall.
The Devon branch of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), a separate and independent charity, has been running a campaign called ‘Save Our Fields From Solar Farms’.
It opposed the Langford scheme, and is among the hundreds of objectors to the Pyworthy application. Its members include the Midsomer Murders actor John Nettles, left, who lives nearby after moving to the area around a decade ago. The actor, who found fame as the detective Bergerac in the Jersey-based 1980s TV drama named after his character, has presented a short video detailing the campaign’s opposition to the latest solar farm plan.
Mr Nettles, who also narrated Channel 4’s Devon and Cornwall series, says there are already six solar farms in the area, including Devon’s biggest on 109 acres at Pitworthy, and “local residents feel enough is enough”.
The actor, who keeps donkeys and horses on a smallholding near Holsworthy,
described the scheme as ‘hideous’ and added: “People need to understand the enormous scale and visual impact of these solar farms.
“Three together would desecrate the pastoral vista in this part of Devon, turning it into an industrialised landscape of solar panels and security fencing stretching across 28 fields.”
Among the objections is one from Pyworthy Parish Council, which opposes the loss of agricultural land in area famous for farming.
It said: “The Parish Council feels that Pyworthy has already made a major contribution to renewable energy in the area, and that this proposal, which will span over a mile from end to end, is a step too far.”
The applicant, RES Energy Ltd, wants permission for 40 years for the 66.33 hectare site, equal to just under 164 acres. The application was submitted to Torridge District Council in March, and the planning committee will soon have to wrestle with a decision.
The solar energy industry says the UK needs to triple capacity by 2030
to meet its carbon reduction targets. The Government has also backed the sector by adding it along with onshore wind power to the latest round of its support scheme for renewable energy sources, although most of the £265million will go to offshore wind.
The opponents question the green credentials of solar panels, pointing to a report that their manufacture in China has involved the use of forced labour. They say the environmental impact of production, transportation and end-of-life disposal should all be taken into account, as well as the impact on the landscape and loss of farming land.
Penny Mills, director of Devon CPRE, said that the developments, surrounded by miles of security fences and CCTV, create an “industrial” scene in the countryside.
She said in Devon alone there are plans for another 1,000 acres of solar farms, in addition to the 4,000 acres already in place.
The organisation believes the panels should go on ‘brownfield’ redevelopment sites, and on buildings, rather than filling open farmland.
In response to the Cullompton decision, she commented: “It’s too early to say if we are seeing the tide turning against these large-scale solar farms on Devon’s green fields, but this is encouraging news for other communities like Pyworthy in Torridge facing similar applications.” The director said: “How much more land are we going to see lost, and is this the best thing to do? Do we want to carry on importing our food all the time? We have to look at the whole picture.
“We have some of the best farmland in this country, it is fantastic for dairy and beef, and we are just losing it, as well as the threat from housing. This is what we are all about, it is a campaign to protect the farmland and countryside.”
Solar farms are big business, with large rewards for landowners at a time of uncertainty in agriculture. Farmers see them as a good way to diversify sources of income, and the National Farmers’ Union has been working with the solar industry to produce best practice guidelines.
Its chief adviser on renewable energy says solar farms have a “relatively modest ‘land take’ and environmental impact” compared with wind power, bio-energy, or non-food uses such as golf courses or horse paddocks.
Renewable Energy Systems, which has put forward the Pyworthy scheme, works in 10 countries, and made an operating profit of £38.7million in the year to October 2020.
A statement on behalf of the company with the planning application says proposals include measures to enhance the landscape and increase biodiversity. It says the development would be able to generate enough electricity to supply around 12,100 homes, displacing 18,608 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and “contributing to the UK’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050”.
It says the site is mostly on lower grade agricultural land, which would be taken out of crop use but could still be used for light grazing, and it would be returned at the end of the life of the solar farm. The development, it adds, would be screened from the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, around 9.4km to the northwest, and would be unlikely to harm the nearby Upper Tamar Area of Great Landscape Value.
The scheme would see 75,920 modules on 2,920 racks, supported by 29,200 poles, with one grid substation and 14 inverter substations, surrounded by 8.7km of 2.4m high fencing, with 85 CCTV posts.
By Tuesday Torridge Council’s planning website showed 212 objections and two comments in favour.
Solar Energy UK, the trade association for the industry, says: “Solar parks can help produce the power needed to support the UK’s electricity system. In May 2020, along with other forms of solar power, solar parks helped the UK meet more than 11% of its entire electricity demand, and contributed to a record period of coal-free generation. As well as helping to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions, and so address climate change, solar power can deliver local environmental benefits.
“The work carried out as part of the installation and management of a solar park can increase biodiversity on site, support water management and flood prevention, and regulate soil quality.”
But not everyone agrees they are the best solution. The Renewable Energy Foundation, founded in 2004 by TV personality Noel Edmonds, believes the farmland would be better used for growing food, rather than solar power.
Its director, Dr John Constable, said: “There is no good argument for taking excellent farmland producing energy for human beings and turning it into third rate energy generators for the electricity system.
“That is a bad use of land. It is a serious error.”