An authority concerned by the spread of solar farms and battery plants across the countryside has described the Government’s new ‘land use framework’ as a step in the right direction.
Staffordshire County Council has been arguing that a national land-use policy is needed to manage the growth of solar and other alternative energy, rather than planning applications being decided on a case-by-case basis by different district and borough councils.
Andrew Mynors, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Connectivity, said:
The current fragmented planning policy is effectively allowing a solar land grab in Staffordshire so not only do we need a national land use framework, but we also need it to provide the detail to understand how the planning process might work.
Although the framework says that only one per cent of land nationally may be given over to solar and windfarms, the report acknowledges that figure will rise, and the allocation of that land needs to be fairly done.
For example, the rural community of Drointon, not far from Stafford, has two solar farm planning applications, one approved, one pending, which will cover around 80 per cent of the hamlet for the next 40 years.
Quoting the ‘one per cent’ figure to residents there will ring hollow, so I want to see shared responsibility across the country for hosting these sites rather than small, rural communities bearing a disproportionate burden.”
Andrew Mynors added that he was pleased that the Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds, had said that ‘food security is national security’ and had committed to protecting prime farming land.
But whereas the Government has said it is committed to maintaining food production at current levels, Staffordshire County Council is calling for a better understanding of future need.
Andrew Mynors said:
If the Government can calculate how much extra energy we need to generate by 2050, it can also work out how much land is needed to feed our predicted population and we can allocate resources accordingly.
Despite the government’s ambition, I think that this framework is only one piece of the planning puzzle and despite the ambition of the right use, right place principle, it is unlikely that it will resolve the issue of what gets built and where.
While I think this document is a step in the right direction, we need to see how it would be delivered and whether it can realise the Government’s ambition.”
Staffordshire County Council’s campaign to Stop the Solar Land Grab continues.