Source · Select Committees · Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
Recommendation 45
45
Accepted in Part
Amend solar farm guidance to clarify agricultural land classification and food security considerations.
Recommendation
The Government should review and amend this guidance to: • The Government should reaffirm its commitment to developing solar on developed land, brownfield land, contaminated land and industrial land before agricultural land. The Government should also consider innovative ways to develop solar energy without agricultural land. • Clarify more precisely how applicants and decision-makers should assess land type and agricultural land classification, including the use of BMV agricultural land. 58 • Refer explicitly to food security and explain how decision-makers should take this consideration into account. • Clarify when site surveys are necessary to verify agricultural land classification. • Recognise that BMV agricultural land may not all be clustered in one single area but may instead be located in a patchwork of field parcels, mixed with lower-grade land. (Recommendation, Paragraph 108)
Government Response Summary
The government states NPS guidance already prioritises brownfield and lower-quality agricultural land and has added a reference to Natural England's guidance on assessing agricultural land classification in the NPS for clarity, including soil surveys. However, it does not explicitly commit to referring to food security in the guidance or addressing the patchwork nature of BMV land.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
As set out above, the NPS guidance is clear that wherever possible developers should utilise brownfield, industrial, contaminated, or previously developed land. Where the development of agricultural land is shown to be necessary, lower-quality land should be preferred to higher-quality land. Guidance on the process for assessing agricultural land type is already included in the solar section of EN3 which refers to Defra’s Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) system as the only approved system for grading agricultural quality in England and Wales. The text cross references directly to Natural England’s criteria for assessing land grade. Natural England has also provided more detailed guidance8 on how to use the ALC in planning, including carrying out soil surveys and we have added a reference to this in the NPS to provide greater clarity. The Solar Roadmap published in June reaffirms government’s commitment to maintaining planning protections for our best agricultural land. The Roadmap also sets out how alongside ground mount solar, government is planning to drive forward deployment of solar across multifunctional uses of space such as rooftops, car parks and water bodies.