The government’s planning inspectorate has granted approval for a huge 190MW Solar farm to the south of Selby and immediately to the west of Drax power station, close to the village of Camblesforth. This is despite fierce opposition from local residents, the three nearest Parish Councils and even North Yorkshire County Council. The 476 Ha site (1100 acres) is virtually all high-grade agricultural land (97.3%), known as BMV or best and most versatile. National planning policy is to avoid the use of BMV land and use lower-grade soils "where possible." A Written Ministerial Statement from 2015 (but still valid planning guidance) says applicants should provide the “most compelling evidence” that using BMV land is necessary.
An updated WMS from 2024 reiterates the guidance (which is regarded as part of national planning law) and says BMV land is the "least preferred." The applicant provided no evidence at all, as far as I can see, beyond it being cheaper and more convenient for them.
Nevertheless, the planning inspector approved the plan last Thursday.
I should add that I'm not opposed to solar energy in any way, and neither am I, or the objectors, NIMBYs, as you will see.
On Friday, a York radio station interviewed a local Camblesforth resident whose house backs on to another, smaller, 50 MW Solar farm that is in the middle of construction, one of two such sites next to Drax Power Station. Last summer was a nightmare as workers drove piles into the ground from seven in the morning till six at night. The framing is now visible from the road but no solar panels have been installed so far.
In response, the interviewer read out part of a letter from Mr David Wagstaff at the Department of Energy and Net Zero, saying "the need for green energy outweighs the harms caused."
There were other objections too, but the BMV one had seemed a killer. Not this time apparently, the desperate need for renewable electricity generation was so urgent that it no longer mattered what sort of agricultural land you chose for your site; the planners will simply waive it through. That is the situation.
Ed Miliband’s message to objectors to very large-scale Solar farms in rural areas is - don’t bother.
Whatever your objections, the need for green energy is so great, that it overrides all possible harms. If you live much further north, you won’t have to face the problem. The angle of incidence of sunlight on the Earth’s surface makes solar power much less efficient at latitudes above a line running roughly from North Wales to Humberside. We in Selby are close to the limit, at the moment. Wales is protected slightly because it isn't flat enough.
I did a bit of research and discovered that not a single large-scale Solar farm (greater than 50MW) submitted to the National Infrastructure Planning department (NSIP) has been refused planning permission, and so far none have successfully been appealed. There are 40 such projects on their website at various stages, some decided and some still being examined. By their very nature, they are all on thousands of acres of agricultural land as far as I can see. In England, we simply do not have miles of barren landscape.
I don’t expect any to be turned down in future. Every single one has serious local opposition, people who are appalled at what amounts to the transformation of their rural communities from a natural, farmed landscape into semi-industrial use. They take the time to register as an interested party, draft and send in their objections, attend public hearings, present evidence and fret at night about what might happen to their villages, homes, views, walks, and so on. Some have had their health affected by the stress of it all.
The inspectors go through the motions, visit the sites, conduct hearings, question applicants and listen to objectors. It is all an utter charade. The decision is made the minute the applicant submits the first scoping request or the outline environmental statement. Everything afterwards is simply about the details. There is no prospect of the project being refused; the applicant and the inspectors know it, but the objectors don’t. They actually think their efforts will have an impact.
They are being taken for fools.
On the NIMBY question, bear in mind that Camblesforth (not my village by the way) nestles in the morning shadow of the huge cooling towers and chimney of Drax, over which the sun has risen every day since the early 1970s. The station provides about 6% of all the power used in Britain. The Helios applicant (Enso Energy) listed 13 other energy-generating projects nearby, built or approved over the last few years and connected to Drax. This includes a wind farm, three 50MW solar farms, a 400MW solar farm, a Carbon Capture and Storage system, various stand-alone Battery Energy Storage systems (BESSs), a grid connection to a wind farm off the coast of Scotland, etc, etc.
Since then, we have seen 10 new projects added:
- Quintas Cleantech: 49MW solar farm (SF) plus a 10MW battery storage system (BESS) on 58.9 Ha of farmland East of Broad Lane, Cawood.
- Quintas Cleantech: 30MW plus a 10MW BESS on 55 Ha of farmland either side of the A163 Market Weighton Road at Barlby.
- Greenergy Renewables: Solar farm and associated BESS infrastructure on 38 Ha of farmland (93% BMV) at Port Jackson Farm, off Selby Road, Camblesforth
- Ivegate: 10MW on 13.97 Ha of land off Weeland Road, Knottingley
- Pegasus Group: 49MW and co-located BESS on 87 Ha of BMV agricultural land at Scalm Park Wistow
- ABEI Energy: 13.3MW on 17.5 Ha of land to the Southeast of Little Fenton on Sweeming Lane, Little Fenton
- Noventum Power: 49MW together with ancillary development on 62 Ha of agricultural land near Hillam Grange, Austfield Lane Hillam
- One Planet Developments: Solar farm together with associated infrastructure on 24.78ha of farmland at Nordens Barn Farm, Common Lane, South Milford
- Light Valley Solar for a 500MW array on 1,066 Ha of agricultural land near Monk Fryston.
- Mylen Leah Solar for a 500MW array and BESS on 1,100 Ha near Holme on Spalding Moor.
Apart from two, they are all in the Selby District Council area. I do not expect any to be refused.
Now, they may not all have local objectors, some may not even be visible from the road, I don't know. But many if not all, will be screened by planting trees. Anyone familiar with the area will know it's largely flat with long-distance, open views of fields. Not any more, we will soon be looking like the Black Forest.
So, no, please don't think of us as NIMBYs. The first two 50MW solar farms went through with little or no opposition, as did some of the other earlier developments. Camblesforth PC welcomed them. They are not unreasonable people.
I worry that we are creating problems for the future. These sites are approved typically for 40 years when they are supposed to return to agricultural use. This is for the birds. An old local farmer told me years ago that Drax Power had a 40-year lifespan quoted at the original public inquiry, but here we are 50 years later wit it still in use and expanding with ever more energy-generating infrastructure being added because Drax has high-capacity grid connections available.
They come like moths to a flame.
The solar sites will never be dismantled because (a) we will still need energy, (b) the landowners will be multi-millionaires and (c) nobody knows if land that has lain fallow for 40 years and is packed with concrete pilings will ever be productive again.
If they are ever redundant, you can be sure they will be declared brownfield sites and used for another purpose. It will forever change the character of the area.
Other countries have passed laws forbidding the installation of solar panels on farmland, regardless of quality (notably Italy HERE). The UK's position seemed to be a compromise, allowing Solar arrays on low-grade agricultural land while offering some protection for the most productive. But the Enso decision sweeps away the last remaining obstacle and opens the way, not just to allow this sort of development, but to actively encourage it on ALL farmland in England.
In France, solar panels on public car parks is mandated and in California, they are used to cover waterways to reduce evaporation in hot weather.
This is creating a lot of anger against Miliband and the Labour government. Otherwise reasonable people will (and are, to my certain knowledge) turn to Farage and Reform in 2028-29. The voters are going to lash out at the local Labour MP. This is what anger does.
The government is shooting itself in the foot in Selby.
