Solar Energy must be developed responsibly
Solar energy plays a crucial role in reducing the global carbon footprint and should be a key part of the UK’s energy mix. However, its development must be responsible. Large-scale solar farms should not be built on Best and Most Versatile (BMV) land or productive farmland. Instead, they should be prioritized on industrial sheds, brownfield sites, and rooftops—locations that can provide renewable energy without compromising the environment, food security, or local communities.
The ‘Stop Lime Down’ campaign supports renewable energy but opposes utility-scale solar farms on greenfield sites and agricultural land. Such developments threaten rural communities by taking valuable arable land, disrupting landscapes, and causing significant environmental and ecological damage. Additionally, the associated traffic and construction work add to the burden on these areas.
This is not an issue of opposing renewable energy; it’s about protecting our land, environment, and future from corporate profit motives that put our rural areas at risk.
Sainsbury's warehouse with rooftop solar panels
The UK Warehousing Association said in its 2022 report Investment Case for Rooftop Solar Power in Warehousing: “UK warehousing has the roof space for up to 15 GW of new solar, which would double the UK’s solar PV capacity. This could meet National Grid’s minimum requirements for solar expansion by 2030… producing up to 13.8 TWh of electricity per year enabling the warehouse sector to become a net producer of green electricity.”
The Campaign for Protection of Rural England (CPRE) in 2024 says: “The government must set a target for generating at least 60% of the UK’s solar energy from rooftops and make it easier and cheaper to install panels on existing homes and commercial buildings.”
Locate solar installations on brownfield and ex-industrial sites; next to transport hubs, motorways and railways. Cover car parks, warehouse roofs, business parks, commercial and public buildings.
We need a joined-up planning and solar policy by national and local government, councils and planners, to provide renewable energy without destroying the UK’s rural communities and landscapes.
Solar carpark opened in Salisbury, March 2024
The CPRE report considers the potential for Solar Car Parks (SCPs): “It has been a legal requirement since 2023 for a solar canopy to be installed on all new car parks in France. Installing solar modules on the UK’s car parks and new buildings could generate 31 GW. Taken together, all suitable roof space and car parks in the UK could generate a whopping 117 GW, substantially more than the government’s total solar target of 70 GW.”
Locate solar installations on brownfield and ex-industrial sites; next to transport hubs, motorways and railways. Cover car parks, warehouse roofs, business parks, commercial and public buildings.
Castle Combe race circuit, with solar panels on its in-field
The easy route is for ‘quick win’ developers to offer land owners substantial income for leasing their lands, often more appealing to landowners than farming, although tenant farmers forced off their lands may not feel the same way. There is currently not a joined-up approach by government, planners, property and land owners to solar development: that’s why it’s important to lobby national and local government and work with other organisations to push for solar energy in the right locations.