Half a million acres of England must be covered in solar panels and wind turbines to hit net zero targets, the Government has said. [some emphasis, links added]
Ministers said 1% of all land must be given over to renewable energy by 2050 in a new “land use” strategy published on Wednesday.
The plans will hit farms particularly hard, with tens of thousands of acres of arable land repurposed for energy generation.
Emma Reynolds, the Environment Minister, said the targets were necessary to “build clean, home-grown power”.
A further 1.9 million acres of land, representing some 9% of farmland, will be given over to rewilding, creating heathland and restoring peatland habitats as part of efforts to capture carbon from the atmosphere.
Ms Reynolds said the plan, which also includes forecasts for how much land will be needed for new housing, set out “a coherent national vision for how we use our land, backed by the most advanced spatial analysis ever undertaken in this country”.
She added that Labour would ensure there was enough farmland left to maintain domestic food production.
However, the strategy risks triggering a backlash in the countryside, where Labour’s policies to date have made the Government deeply unpopular.
It may also embolden Reform, who have already made opposition to net zero a key part of its electoral strategy.
Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, told The Telegraph: “This is not a good idea. We should be maximizing food production, not subsidizing productive land to sit idle.” …
It comes at a time when British food security is already threatened by the limited availability of fertiliser as a result of the war in the Middle East. Britain has also suffered a series of historically poor harvests.
Officials said there may be “potential” to put solar panels above crops, allowing both farming and clean energy generation.
However, this system, known as “agrovoltaics”, requires solar panels to be at least 11 feet tall, and as a consequence, they are up to 30% more expensive to install. They can also [impede the use of] farming machinery.
At the moment, Labour’s land-use plan is simply a proposal. But the report makes clear that ministers plan to “transform decision-making to address the issues raised in the consultation” by 2030, suggesting legislation and new rules will follow.
Read rest at The Telegraph
