My Statement regarding today’s UK Government Written Statement on plans to limit solar farms on good agricultural land (“Solar and protecting our Food Security and Best and Most Versatile (BMV) Land”)
“Many of my Ynys Môn constituents have voiced their concerns about large solar farms and I certainly share those concerns.”
“I am pleased the UK government shares them too. Here on the island, we have the prospect of a huge 1200-acre solar farm that risks sacrificing vast areas of our agricultural land and with it over time the UK’s food security if it was replicated throughout the UK.
“I am against the Lightsource bp project because it is simply too big and it takes too much land. Something so big cannot be built only on poor farmland, we all know some productive and rich fields will be sacrificed.
“We need energy security in these uncertain times and we need green energy too but we also need to be able to feed ourselves. Solar can be sited elsewhere – on rooftops, for example.
“As the NFU said, food security is national security and I welcome the explicit guidance for solar developers and planning authorities.
“I agree with the Energy Security Secretary when she said there is a balance to be struck and this new guidance does that.
“I also welcome a consultation on single small-scale onshore wind turbines being installed under permitted development rights. This would be a boost to the rural sector.
