Environment secretary to stop grants for solar farms

Liz Truss announces plans to axe subsidies to farmers and landowners for the schemes

Environment secretary Liz Truss has announced plans to axe a taxpayer subsidy to farmers and landowners for large-scale solar farm schemes, saying they are a "blight on the countryside".

Truss said she was concerned that the "ugly" rows of solar panels were taking up land that could be used for food production.

The environment secretary said she would end grants worth £2 million a year available via her department from the European Union's Common Agriculture Policy.

Truss told the Mail on Sunday: "I want Britain to lead the world in food and farming and to do that we need enough productive agricultural land.

“I'm very concerned that a lot of our land is being taken up with solar farms. We've already got 250 of them and we've got 10,000 football pitches worth of new solar farms in the pipeline."

She said the solar farms are "ugly, a blight on the countryside" as she signalled the end of the £100 an acre grant.

"Food and farming is our number one manufacturing industry, the whole food chain represents £100 billion in our economy, and it is a real problem if we are using productive agricultural land for solar farms," she said.

"I'm not against them per se - they're fine on commercial roofs and school roofs - but it's a big problem if we are using land that can be used to grow crops, fruit and vegetables.

"We import two-thirds of our apples, and using more land for solar panels makes it harder to improve that."

Commenting on the announcement, Leonie Greene, head of external affairs at the Solar Trade Association said that the comments made by Defra were "damaging and incorrect" adding that the government's own planning guidance made it clear farming practices should continue on solar farms on greenfield land. 

Greene said: “The land is still available for farming – the solar fixings only take up 5% of the land. This means plenty of room for continued agricultural practices such as sheep, geese or chicken farming. As far as farm payments are concerned, solar should really be treated in the same way as orchards or fields with trees, where animals continue to graze the land in between.

“Solar farms have an important role to play in conserving our countryside. Not only can solar power save huge amounts of greenhouse gases, but solar farms can provide protected spaces for boosting biodiversity, such as wildflowers and bees, as well as providing greater income stability for farmers who face increasing weather risk due to climate change. We urge Defra to champion best practice in the solar industry for the benefit of British farmers, our climate and our countryside.”