Two-thirds of mega solar farms built on productive farmland

England’s most productive farmland is being lost to mega solar farms, CPRE research reveals. As the country scales up on solar power, our analysis shows that large-scale developments are putting vital agricultural land at risk, despite alternatives like solar on rooftops and brownfield sites.

• An area of England’s prime agricultural land—the size of 1,300 football pitches—has been lost to mega solar farms
• Three solar farms are located entirely on highest-grade farmland, removing a critical resource from food production
• CPRE calls for 60% of the UK’s solar to be generated on rooftops and ban on solar farms on the highest two grades of farmland

Research from our new report reveals that 59% of England’s largest operational solar farms are located on productive farmland, while almost a third (31%) of the area they cover is classified as the nation’s ‘best and most versatile’ (BMV) agricultural land.

The research examined the 38 operational solar developments that produce more than 30MW of energy. Despite national planning policy designed to protect high-quality farmland, more than half of these sites (53%) include BMV land, graded 1-3a under the official Agricultural Land Classification system.

Our analysis found that across all operational sites, 827 hectares of BMV land has been covered by solar development. This area, equivalent to around 1,300 football pitches, includes 45 hectares of Grade 1 ‘excellent’ land, 216 hectares of Grade 2 ‘very good’ land, and 566 hectares of Grade 3a ‘good’ land. A further 755 hectares of Grade 3b ‘moderate’ quality farmland is covered by solar panels.

Three operational solar farms – Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire, Goosehall in East Cambridgeshire, and Black Peak Farm in South Cambridgeshire – are located entirely on BMV farmland.

The UK faces a huge challenge as it scales up solar capacity from 16.6 GW today to the government’s target of 45-47 GW by 2030. Under current policy scenarios, 60-65% of this capacity could come from large-scale solar farms. These remove critical agricultural areas from food production for up to 60 years, potentially compromising the UK’s food supply at a time of global uncertainty.

The concentration of high-quality farmland in eastern England has created a corresponding cluster of applications to build mega solar farms. Despite government projections that solar will cover only 0.4% of UK land, the distribution is likely to be highly uneven. In the parliamentary constituency of Sleaford and North Hykeham, for example, 7% of land is already covered by solar farms.

This approach to land use is short-sighted. Previous CPRE research has shown that installing solar panels on the roofs of suitable domestic and industrial buildings, as well as on car parks, could deliver 40-50 GW by 2035 and up to 117 GW by 2050.

CPRE is calling on the government to set a target for at least 60% of solar energy to come from rooftop solar, car parks and brownfield land, and to ban ground-mounted solar on Grade 1 and 2 agricultural land due to its scarcity.

Read our report

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