A think tank has warned that the Labour party will face “inadequate grid capacity” after it announced a plan to accelerate the construction of wind and solar farms in rural areas.
Writing in The Telegraph last Thursday, Daniel Zeichner, the shadow farming minister said, “Labour is the party that will deliver for rural Britain,” adding that the reforms would “put money into the pockets of thousands of farmers and landowners.”
“We must also support farmers as they diversify their income streams and make use of land that is not suitable for food production—by enabling them to build renewable energy and plug into the National Grid faster,” Mr. Zeichner added.
“Under the Conservatives, farmers and landowners have been left waiting years to plug their renewable energy into the grid. No more.”
Think Tank Warns of Inadequate Grid Capacity
David Bean, parliament and government relations manager at the Countryside Alliance, a think tank focused on rural policy, said, “Where renewable energy infrastructure is right for a particular site, it should be made possible to install and connect it quickly.”However, Mr. Bean added, “The real issue facing rural energy producers and consumers is inadequate underlying grid capacity, and that will need to be addressed first.”
The Labour party’s proposal promises to drastically cut the current lengthy process for farmers to receive approval for green energy projects and their subsequent connection to the grid, claiming that it could reduce the wait time from years to just a few months.
Mr. Bean also responded directly to Labour’s promise of using non-agricultural land for renewable energy projects.
“Mr. Zeichner talked about using land that is not suitable for food production, and we will hold him to that intention … Prime agricultural land should not be built over with energy infrastructure: better to site it on existing industrial buildings.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s commitment to overcoming local opposition to green energy projects, including the potential rewriting of planning laws, has sparked concerns among some rural communities and Conservative MPs.
These concerns revolve around Labour’s push for aggressive planning reforms, including setting binding targets for councils on the approval of green energy projects and identifying suitable sites for development, which critics say could harm rural communities.
‘Processed Food is Killing The Nation’
Welsh farmer, presenter and commentator, Gareth Wyn Jones, told The Epoch Times: “We need to protect our prime agricultural land for producing food. But government policies are pushing for solar panel farms, wind turbines, planting trees, taking away our opportunity to grow food in this country.“We should be putting solar panels onto the roofs of all the industrial sheds, and onto private households as well. And grant-funding them, helping them, making sure we’re more energy sufficient and more self-sufficient in food, energy, and everything that is so important going forward because we need a farming food revolution in this country.
“We can build a better Britain on our bellies. If we invest in our children. By feeding them healthy seasonal food, we would have a massive saving of billions of pounds on the NHS, obesity, diabetes, and everything else that comes with overeating.
“Processed food is killing the nation. So as I’ve said, let’s keep the land for agricultural purposes, because if we don’t, we have to think we are a growing population on a small island. And if we have to rely on imported food, we could be in big trouble if anything happens.”
MP Warns of ‘Visual Implications’
Speaking to The Telegraph last week, Dr. Caroline Johnson, Conservative MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, raised concerns about the environmental and aesthetic impact of large-scale solar farms in rural areas.“What that means is we then have to import food, which is more expensive and worse for the environment,” she explained.
“There are also visual implications for people who live in the countryside. Having solar panels in a few fields here and there is one thing, but a large solar farm is very unattractive and is essentially industrialising the landscape.”
The MP added, “We should be putting solar panels on top of homes, factories, and warehouses instead.”
