South Holland and the Deepings MP Sir John Hayes on food security and the dilemma facing renewable energy developments

MP Sir John Hayes pens his latest column on the importance of food security and why it must be a factor when considering renewable energy development...

Overdevelopment is a constant threat to both our landscape and to productive land.

We need new homes, but too often they are built in the wrong places; we need roads and railways, but not ones that cut through areas of natural beauty or where we should be growing the food needed to feed the nation.

I’ve long argued that giant wind turbines should not be imposed on rural areas, particularly in flatlands like the Fens, and the same goes for giant electricity pylons, of which there are plans for many more in the years to come.

Now the threat comes from giant solar installations which would blanket our county in panels, cables and other industrial paraphernalia.

Lincolnshire is disproportionately affected by this scourge.

There are currently plans for 12 large solar developments here; if they are all given planning permission they would cover 22,500 acres.

To put that in context, the National Farmers Union estimates that existing total land used for solar is at present at 49,421 acres.

Often, such development is imposed on communities which don’t want it.

What matters most is the use of land which industrial solar plants displace. Lincolnshire grows much of the food that is consumed across our country and that fills shelves in shops and pantries in homes.

Our county alone is responsible for 12% of the nation’s total food production - producing 30% of Britain’s vegetables and 18% of its poultry.

Arable land available to grow the food needed to secure domestic food supply, at its lowest level since 1945, is being lost at around 100,000 acres a year. Indeed, over 750,000 acres of farmed land have been sacrificed to developments in the 10 years to 2019.

We cannot have it both ways; for there is a choice to be made between national economic security assured by the production of domestically produced foodstuffs, or giving up land for solar panels.

These large solar developments are envisaged on productive farmland. South Holland and the Deepings can boast some of the best soil in the kingdom – where there is a great deal of grade 1, 2, and 3a land – so it is preposterous that where the food that our country needs could be grown, corporations that have no connection with our area, no genuine concern for the environment, and no interest beyond subsidies with sustainable energy production seek to use this soil for solar.

Last week in Parliament I questioned why solar panels are not being fixed onto the vast number of empty rooftops across the country, and why brownfield and industrial land is not prioritised for energy generation. There is an estimated 600,000 acres of unused South-facing industrial roof space in the UK.

Surely it would be more efficient to take advantage of this, rather than spoiling perfectly good agricultural land?

Lincolnshire is home to some of our country’s best farmland, yet we are being targeted by careless, capricious corporations greedy for subsidies. As Energy Minister, I learned that it is critical to have an energy mix – with base load supply provided by nuclear power and supplemented by flexible energy that can respond to changing patterns of demand. Because we heat and light our homes more in Winter, and experience sudden surges of demand, we need flexible energy provision of the kind met by North Sea natural gas.

Renewable sources of energy are undoubtedly a valuable part of that mix.

They do not have the flexibility of fossil fuels, but are important in delivering our ambitions to reduce carbon emissions.

Renewables cannot meet every need or solve every problem, but in the right places and at the right volume, they have a crucial part to play.

As decisions are made – nationally and locally – about what we site where, polemicists, policymakers, and planners need to know that food security matters as much as energy security, for people’s wellbeing depends on both.