Solar farms: What next for Norfolk?

Five major solar farms, including one that would be the largest in the UK, have been proposed for Norfolk. What are the arguments for and against the plans?

Before and since the General Election, the government has regularly said it wants the UK to be a "clean energy superpower".

With less reliance on foreign-supplied gas and oil, the country would have improved energy security – and ministers have said that would bring electricity bills down as well.

Solar farms are a key part of the plan for more renewable energy, with some of the largest in the UK proposed for Norfolk.

They have been controversial; because they are so big, the final decision on them will lie with ministers, rather than councils.

Some opponents, such as Conservative John Fuller, former leader of South Norfolk Council, argue that is anti-democratic.

Lord Fuller also said he feared agricultural land would be lost to solar panels.

"We need to bring order to the stampede for solar that could leave us all hungry and reliant on foreign food," he said.

"Food in your belly is the number one thing that anybody would consider even before a roof over your head."

Asher Minns, from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, said energy security was more important than food.

"The need for energy security by producing our own electricity, whether through wind or solar, is absolutely paramount," he said.

"We absolutely need to do this. We needed to do this about 20 years ago."

The government said its plans to increase the generation of electricity do not risk the UK's food security and that sites proposed for solar farms often occupied land that was "the lowest grade quality for food production".

A spokesman for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero told the BBC: "Even in the most ambitious scenarios, solar would still occupy less than 1% of the UK's agricultural land, while bringing huge benefits for the British public and our energy security."

Two of the large schemes are planned for land in south Norfolk.

Brian Ross, 74, from Long Stratton said a lot of people did not want solar farms because of "nimbyism".

"We've got to have alternative sources of power so we have to rely on these renewables.

"If we do not have these solar farms, windfarms, how are we going to carry on with our electricity?"

But Peter Robertson, 74, from Hempnall, said he was conflicted by the need for green energy and protecting the local landscape.

"I'm in favour of renewable energy and I know that's the way it ought to go," he said.

"But that plan is so big.

"The way farming is, I suspect farmers will be quite grateful to get some money for their land which is not really a good thing for any of us."

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