Council call to stop Staffordshire's solar land grab

Staffordshire is calling for a balanced distribution of solar farms and storage facilities.

A national land-use policy is needed to manage the growth of solar and other alternative energy in Staffordshire, says the county council.

With local farmland increasingly being proposed for acres of solar panels and battery storage, Staffordshire County Council is proposing the need for a national policy, which also recognises how much land is needed for food production.

Andrew Mynors, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Connectivity, said:

There is effectively a solar grab happening in Staffordshire, with planning applications for huge solar and battery farms to the eight different district and borough councils in Staffordshire without any central coordination, a pattern that is repeating itself across large parts of the country.

Government is saying that we need energy self-sufficiency, but in a farming county like Staffordshire we also know the importance of food self-sufficiency.

If the Government can calculate how much extra energy we need to generate by 2050, it can work out how much land is needed for food for our population and we can allocate resources accordingly.

There is a national policy for creating EV charging infrastructure but nothing to govern the spread of solar panels and their battery plants – it’s all being left to local councils and their communities to make decisions within a policy framework that isn’t fit for the job.”

As well as the ad hoc growth of solar plants and battery storage facilities in Staffordshire, the county council is also concerned:

• that the majority of solar and battery storage applications appear to be from investors with no responsibility to the communities in which they will be based;
• about the long-term safety of these sites;
• that the majority of applications are on farmland and greenfield sites rather than in urban areas such as rooftops, car parks or other industrial locations.

Andrew Mynors added:

Staffordshire will play its part in meeting the increasing energy needs of ‘UK plc’ but this should be done in a balanced, informed way which shares the responsibility even-handedly.

In the coming weeks and months we will be campaigning for Government to recognise the need for a common-sense, coordinated approach.”