Rate of solar refusals ‘deeply problematic’, says Labour

A spate of recent planning refusals for solar farms has been branded “deeply problematic” by a member of Labour’s shadow ministerial energy and climate change team.

In a debate in the House of Commons’ Westminster Hall on solar planning, junior opposition spokesperson Mathew Pennycook said communities should continue to have a say over the location of large scale solar projects in their areas.

But a “more strategic and planned approach” to ground-mounted solar deployment is required across the country, he said.

This would include steps to maximise the efficiency of sites used for renewable deployment by co-locating associated infrastructure “wherever possible” to “mitigate” its impact on communities.

And when local plans are being vetted by the government’s Planning Inspectorate, Pennycook said providing renewable development should “feature prominently”.

The planning system must enable deployment of solar power “at the rate and scale we need to rapidly reduce our emissions”, he said: “Having a sensible approach to solar deployment does not mean that it can be an option to refuse it wholesale. It is deeply problematic that rates of solar farm planning permission refusal have risen significantly over recent years.

“The government must address delays in the planning process and other regulatory processes that currently present a barrier to low-carbon infrastructure installation at scale.”

Pennycook told the debate that deployment of photovoltaics on rooftops could provide the bulk of the additional 50GW of extra solar capacity that Labour wants to be installed by 2030.

But he said that it would “certainly” not exempt land graded 3b, where no presumption in favour of continued agricultural use currently exists against renewables development, as many rural backbench Conservative MPs have called for.

They include Alicia Kearns, Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee, who said that she will table an amendment to the Energy Bill, which would make government rules “legally binding” that discourage solar development on higher quality, best and most versatile (BMV) agricultural land.

The debate’s sponsor, Sleaford MP Caroline Johnson, said that just one of the solar farms planned in her Lincolnshire council would provide sufficient power for 100,000 homes, just over double the 45,000 dwellings in the entire local authority.

She said: “It is unfair to expect that area, which already punches well above its weight in food production, to also provide much more than its fair share of electricity.”