Liz Truss to ban solar projects on farms 

Some pushback against the excesses of climate obsession.
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Liz Truss is poised to ban solar projects from most farms in England in a move that will dismay climate change campaigners and some Tory backbenchers, says Yahoo News.

The prime minister has long been opposed to solar farms on agricultural land, condemning them as “a blight on the landscape” when she was environment secretary in 2014.

And during the Tory leadership campaign this summer, she said she wanted to see farmers producing food with crops and livestock, “not filling fields with paraphernalia like solar farms”.

Confirming an imminent ban on solar projects on farmland, the PM’s spokesman said: “We want to increase long term energy and food security.

“We are looking at regulations and investment that impacts farmers to make sure our projects boost food production and protect the environment. It’s farmers who are best to decide how best to use their land.”

Under proposed changes to planning regulations, it is estimated that solar projects would be banned from about 40% of land in England and almost 60% of agricultural land.

But the solar ban has already been criticised by Tory MP Angela Richardson, who has a majority of just 3,337 over the Liberal Democrats in her “Blue Wall” constituency of Guildford in Surrey.

“There is a planning application for a solar farm in my constituency, which I support, as it will help my local university meet its net zero aims by 2030,” she tweeted.

“A blanket ban on solar farms would be unwise. They should be looked at on a case by case basis.”

Ms Truss voiced her strong hostility to wind farms at the Tory leadership hustings in Darlington on 9 August and in Cheltenham on 11 August.

Full article here.