Mallard Pass: Campaigners across the country unite against greenfield solar farms
They believe solar farms should be built on brownfield land, not greenfield.
Campaign groups across the country have joined forces to call for the Government to better protect agricultural land from solar developments.
Keith Busfield, a member of the Mallard Pass Action Group – formed as a response to plans by Windel Energy and Canadian Solarto to build a huge solar farm the size of 1,400 football fields across the Rutland/Lincolnshire border – said that allowing developers to use viable farmland for solar schemes creates more problems than it solves.
The organisation has now joined forces with other campaign groups from around the country, known collectively as the Solar Campaign Alliance, to petition the Government to introduce greater protections for agricultural land when it comes to such schemes.
The petition, which has 3,809 signatures, reads: “Agricultural land is a finite resource. We believe there is currently a policy conflict where Government seeks to protect and enhance our domestic production to maintain food security whilst also encouraging the growth of solar energy production.
“New ground-mounted solar developments must be subject to increased regulation to ensure that they do not undermine UK food security, which could result in increasing food costs.”
Mr Busfield said the group was not opposed to solar developments as a principle, but believed they should be built on brownfield land, rather than taking over greenfield sites.
“There are schemes left, right and centre around the country,” he said. “We are all for solar schemes that take up brownfield sites.
“We’re all for solar with regards to putting them on warehouses and commercial properties. We think all new residential homes should have solar as a matter of course.
“What we don’t think is right is actually taking up productive agricultural land to solve something in regards to a climate emergency, which then creates all sorts of other issues in terms of the loss of the agricultural land.
“We all need to eat, we need food as much as we need energy, so to take away our farmland to solve the problem of the energy is nonsense. It creates another problem.”
Mr Busfield said the local community originally thought the proposed Mallard Pass solar farm would be a step forward in the battle against climate change.
“Initially our reaction and the reaction of so many was that it’s a solar farm, it’s green, it’s wonderful, it will save the planet,” he said. “But it doesn’t, the payback in terms of these schemes is by no means immediate and they’re not necessarily green.
“The majority of all solar panels are produced in China. It’s quite energy intensive to make them.
“So you make solar panels, cart them across the world, put them in fields in Rutland and Lincolnshire, having produced a significant carbon footprint, to then save the carbon footprint locally.”
“Also, there are big issues with regards to batteries,” he added. “They are the size of the equivalent of basically a shipping container. There’s going to be around 200 of those as part of the Mallard Pass scheme.
“Lithium ion batteries are relatively unstable and quite a few instances have taken places where they have caught fire.”
A Government spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Solar energy developments are subject to strict planning controls to protect local communities and the environment. This includes the requirement to conduct environmental impact assessments and public consultations on planning applications.
“The Government recognises the need to preserve greenfield land. The Government’s advice to developers continues to be that the effective use of land is prioritised by focusing large scale solar farms on previously developed and non-greenfield land, and that projects are designed to avoid, mitigate and where necessary compensate for impacts.”
A spokesperson for the Mallard Pass Solar Farm project team said they “appreciate the design and delivery of Mallard Pass needs to be carried out sensitively and with respect to local communities”.
“By generating a significant amount of clean, renewable energy, Mallard Pass Solar Farm will contribute towards achieving the national need to rapidly decarbonise our electricity system,” the spokesperson said.
They added: “We are aware of concerns regarding the use of agricultural land, and the Mallard Pass team is working to fully understand the agricultural potential of the proposed areas.”
The Mallard Pass Solar Farm is still in the pre-application stage. Due to its size, an application will need to be submitted to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate which will “undertake a formal examination of the project in which the public will be able to participate”.