Call for solar on non-prime land to be exempt from planning rules

Planning rules for building solar farms on non-prime agricultural land should be scrapped, a thinktank close to Labour has urged.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says the existing planning system is “not fit for purpose” for housing, net zero or restoring nature.

A report by the IPPR, entitled Planning for net zero and nature, states that only 17 new onshore wind farms have been approved since the government tightened the rules on such developments in 2015, generating a total of 6.7MW.

This is equivalent to just 0.02% of the total onshore wind that the National Grid Electricity System Operator has estimated England needs.

At the rate of deployment since 2015, it would take 4,700 years to reach this level of onshore wind capacity, according to the Institute.

More broadly, the report says there is no explicit goal within the planning system to realise either net zero or nature restoration, leading such goals to be treated in isolation.

The IPPR’s recommendations for closer integration of net zero goals into the planning system include giving farmers greater incentives to use land for both agriculture and solar panels.

This kind of multifunctional land use should be encouraged by removing the need for planning permission for solar farms on non-prime agricultural land.

Deploying solar on non-prime land alongside livestock or crops need involve no loss of food production, it says.

Identifying prime locations for multifunctional land use in a national plan could also help to identify where grid capacity might need to be increased.

Another recommendation is for local plans to designate land for renewable energy generation and nature restoration, which should be coupled with removal of the government’s “highly restrictive” legislation around onshore wind.

The report also calls for local authorities to be able to set more ambitious targets in terms of insulation and energy generation than those outlined in the government’s Future Homes Standard building regulations, which is due to be introduced in 2025.

And the process for getting planning permission to install solar panels or heat pumps on existing properties should be simplified.

Luke Murphy, IPPR associate director for energy, climate, housing, and infrastructure, said: “At current build rates, we’re as far from delivering the onshore wind we need for energy security as we are from the start of construction of Stonehenge in 2,500 BC. 

“Fundamental planning reform is needed to accelerate efforts to reduce emissions and restore nature, rollout renewable energy generation, and to deliver the level of housebuilding that the country so desperately needs. 

“Without a reset of the planning system all the main political parties will fail to deliver on their key objectives, from economic growth to energy security, and addressing the climate and nature crises.” 

The report has been published the day after Sir Keir Starmer used his keynote speech at the GMB union’s annual conference to defend Labour’s green investment plans.

Arguing that it is the job of Labour and the unions to lead working people through the “headwinds” of the net zero transition, he said: “Our Green Prosperity Plan, like President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, is our plan for growth, and because we are Labour it is a plan for working people, their jobs and their prosperity.”

The speech follows heavy criticism by the GMB of Labour’s pledge to end new gas and oil extraction from the North Sea.