Solar farms hit by planning refusals

The research found that four projects were refused planning permission during 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 combined.

The analysis follows Conservative leadership contender Liz Truss’ plan to crack down on solar farms, preferring instead to see land used for farming, a view echoed by Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor and leadership rival to Truss.

Turley’s analysis found that the solar farms that were refused planning permission would have had a combined capacity of 748MW.

Despite the misgivings of Truss and Sunak, solar technology is listed as a key contributor to renewable power generation in the government’s British Energy Security Strategy, released in April 2022.

The strategy set out ambitions of generating 70GW of energy from solar technology by 2035, promising also to consult on amending planning rules to strengthen policy in favour of development on non-protected land, as well as supporting solar that is co-located with other functions such as agriculture and established energy infrastructure.