It’s a no-brainer to maximise solar power

AS the Chancellor prepares to fill a black hole in the national budget, caused in part by the astronomical cost of gas, it has never been more important to accelerate the switch to renewables.

Changes to planning policy could turbocharge the rollout of solar energy and help reduce reliance on gas at little or no cost to the public purse, analysis by CPRE, the countryside charity has shown. Ahead of the Autumn Statement, CPRE is urging the government to target rooftops, car parks and brownfield sites for a rapid expansion of renewables.

Commercial roofs and car parks are low hanging fruit ripe for solar installations.

There would be little to no objections from the public, meaning no time and money lost to planning delays.

It’s a no-brainer to maximise the amount of solar that can be installed out of the line of sight and frankly it’s baffling this hasn’t been done already.

Rooftop renewables are the answer. They would be almost universally supported and would help make communities more resilient to both the climate and cost of living crises.’

An increasing number of schemes proposed for otherwise unspoilt countryside, without the backing of local communities, are being refused planning permission.

The latest example saw a massive 110-acre solar farm at Sedgeford, in Norfolk, turned down after councillors said it would mean an unacceptable loss of agricultural land and that the panels could go on roofs instead.

It is evident that a combination of rooftops, surface car parks, brownfield sites and small-scale community energy schemes could make a huge contribution to our onshore renewable energy requirements, especially when coupled with better measures to reduce total energy demand that are currently missing from the government’s approach.

Three urgent policy changes are needed to ensure renewables are done well:

A national land use strategy to balance the competing demands for development, energy and infrastructure, food security and nature recovery; and planning policy amended so that it actively promotes solar panels on suitable brownfield land, avoiding best and most versatile agricultural land.

Solar panels should be a standard expectation for all suitably-orientated roofs on new buildings, including homes; and planning permission should not be granted for commercial or public car parking spaces unless they also provide solar energy generation.

The government needs to give more financial support to community energy so that new brownfield solar schemes can be connected to the grid quickly.

Opposition to industrial-sized solar farms in the countryside is growing, meaning the crucial goal of decarbonising the UK’s energy system could get bogged down in planning objections and protests. Demands for food security and nature recovery are needlessly clashing with net zero goals.

Interim chief executive of CPRE