Campaigners hold rally against solar energy in Lincoln led by Lincolnshire mayoral candidate for Reform UK Andrea Jenkyns

Campaigners and politicians from across Lincolnshire gathered over the weekend to oppose large-scale solar developments being considered on local farmland.

Dozens of concerned residents, armed with banners and signs, descended on Lincoln's Cornhill Quarter on Saturday (March 15), calling for the county's reputation as the nation's breadbasket to be upheld, insisting that local farmland should be used for growing food, not industrial developments.

Organised by Andrea Jenkyns, the Reform UK candidate in the forthcoming mayoral election, the rally also attracted Conservative candidate Rob Waltham and Lincolnshire Independents candidate Marianne Overton.

The only candidate absent was Labour's Jason Stockwood, who posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was in Scartho, Grimsby.

Other attendees included members of the 7,000 Acre group, members of the Cliff Villages Action Solar Group, and Boston and Skegness MP Richard Tice (Reform UK).

Jamie Allen, 69, chairman of the 7,000 Acre group, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We're here to try and get recognition that the countryside in this area is being industrialised.

"Around our area we started with 7,000 acres of potential solar farms—it's now 10,000 acres and rising. It's happening all over Lincolnshire—it's being targeted.

"We're not absolutely against solar, but don't put it on productive farmland—put it on brownfield sites and rooftops.

"Solar and wind are part of the answer, but they're not the complete answer because you still need a backup when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine."

Simon Skelton, 56, who is also part of the group, argued that renewables are "very expensive" and that the solution to decarbonising the electricity grid is nuclear power.

He added: "We say no to renewables, especially solar on farmland. It's so destructive, the blight will be unbelievable in a few years' time."

The campaigners said they were not particularly surprised by Labour's absence at the rally, given the government's recent approval of multiple Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), such as the Heckington Fen Solar Park and the West Burton Solar Project.

"Even if he [Stockwood] doesn't agree with it, he should be here to say why," Mr Allen continued.

Ms Jenkyns argued that Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband was "desecrating" the countryside and farmland by approving these types of solar projects.

"It impacts not only the beauty of Lincolnshire but also food security," she said.

Conservative candidate and North Lincolnshire Council leader Rob Waltham said solar has a place on top of large buildings but felt it was "perverse" to put them on farmland.

"When you put them on the countryside, you need a great big substation to manage the capacity, and you are effectively putting an industrial shed on open countryside," he said.

Mrs Overton reinforced Jamie Allen's point about 10,000 acres being under consideration, stating it was larger than the city of Lincoln.

"That's the scale of this invasion," she said. "It's a destruction of the very nature of what we hold dear."

Due to the involvement of Reform UK, the rally also attracted a counter-protest from members of Stand Up To Racism, who strongly opposed the party’s stance on immigration. Protesters held signs reading 'No to fascism' and 'Blaming immigrants won't solve the housing crisis'.

Mason Crusoe, one of the protesters, said: "Reform UK is finding support among the working class who are angry with the system of capitalism that we're currently under and using that anti-establishment mood to gain votes, despite the fact that they are not for the working class. They are arguably only for the bankers, the bosses, and the richest 1% of our country.

"We're out here to show them that their policies of scapegoating immigrants and refugees are not welcome here.

"Lincoln has a very high immigrant population making up much of the workforce, and arguably, this is where much of the division in society is coming from."

Alexander Kirk, fossil fuel campaigner at Global Witness, responded to the news of the rally, stating: “Protesting against solar power is like complaining about sunshine.

"It’s cheap, it’s clean, and it powers millions of homes across the UK. The solar industry also provides thousands of jobs and helps tackle dangerous climate change in a country already devastated by flooding – with Lincolnshire one of the UK’s most flood-prone counties."

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