A fair deal for tenant farmers

The Tenant Farmers Association supports a shift away from fossil fuels but challenges the government’s approach to solar farm development, which is putting productive farmland and livelihoods at risk.

The Tenant Farmers Association supports the Government’s goal to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and adopt greener energy sources. These include wind, wave, solar, and biomass technologies. However, we must not pursue energy security at the expense of other public interests like food and environmental security. In addition, the push to install solar panels on farmland results from an outdated grid connection system. This system urgently needs a full overhaul. We can be far more efficient by generating and using electricity locally, especially on rooftops. Transporting power across long distances leads to energy loss through every metre of cable.

The TFA is also hugely concerned about the interaction of renewable energy schemes with tenant farms. To that end, we would wholeheartedly endorse what our current Prime Minister, said as leader of the opposition in February 2023.

Planning case law chimes with these words from the Prime Minister. Lord Scarman in giving judgement in the House of Lords case of Great Portland Estates v the Mayor and City of Westminster in 1984 said this:

“Personal circumstances of an occupier, personal hardship, the difficulties of businesses which are of value to the character of a community are not to be ignored in the administration of planning control. It would be inhumane pedantry to exclude from the control of our environment the human factor. The human factor is always present, of course, indirectly as the background to the consideration of the character of land use. It can, however, and sometimes should, be given direct effect as an exceptional or special circumstance. But such circumstances, when they arise, fall to be considered not as a general rule but as exceptions to a general rule to be met in special cases. If a planning authority is to give effect to them, a specific case has to be made and the planning authority must give reasons for accepting it”.

Against this precedent, the Hon Mr Justice Richards in giving judgement in the case of R v Vale of Glamorgan District Council in 2000 under which he quashed a planning consent for the change of use to agricultural buildings subject to an agricultural tenancy said:

“The members [of the planning committee] were advised that the position of the tenant, though a material consideration, was ‘not in the absence of any other objection, sufficient ground to sustain a refusal of the application’. The members were effectively being told that the tenant’s position and the loss of the buildings to agricultural use could not amount to a freestanding planning consideration capable of justifying the refusal of permission; that there had to be some additional ground of objection such as the highways objection that had been the basis of the original recommendation of refusal. In my judgement that was an erroneous approach. It adopted too narrow a view of the relevant policy framework”.

Public policy and case law do seem to be in alignment. However, that changed with a recent planning decision. Planning Inspector Matthew Shrigley, supported by Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook MP, approved a controversial planning appeal. As a result, a solar farm will replace nearly half the land farmed by Old Malton tenant farmers Rob and Emma Sturdy in North Yorkshire.

The joint decision by the Planning Inspector and Government Minister is especially frustrating given the details in the Inspector’s report. The report clearly outlines the serious harm the development will cause to the Sturdys’ farm business. It states the impact will be irreversible and describes it as “exceptional.” The Inspector makes it clear that the loss to the Sturdys is beyond repair.

The TFA is urging Minister Pennycook to explain his decision, especially in light of the Prime Minister’s commitment. If this case didn’t meet the threshold for Government intervention, it’s hard to see when one ever would.

The push for net zero must not be the only factor when deciding on solar farms. Food security, local community impact, landscape, heritage, and the effect on tenant farmers must all be considered. We live on a small, densely populated island with many competing land uses. In every decision, balance is essential.

The Government often says that food security is national security. However, many recent decisions seem to undermine UK farmers and growers. That must change. We now have a chance to raise these concerns again through the Land Use Framework consultation.

It is clear the Government’s current approach to solar energy is not aligned with tenant farmers’ interests and rights. The Sturdy family’s case shows the urgent need for clearer policies and stronger protections for farming communities. The TFA will continue working hard to achieve those goals.

About the author

George Dunn, BA MSc Hon LLD FRAgS – Chief Executive

After studying at Nottingham and Reading Universities, George began his career at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food. He later worked for the Country Landowners Association before joining the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) as Chief Executive in January 1997.

Between 2010 and 2015, he served as Chair of the Farming Community Network. He has also been a trustee of the Arthur Rank Centre. George now volunteers as a governance specialist for the National Trust, focusing on its let estate.

He served on the Tenancy Reform Industry Group for over 20 years. He also contributed to the Rock Review Group on Agricultural Tenancies. He remains active in the Welsh Government Tenancy Working Group and the Welsh Ministerial Roundtable on the Sustainable Farming Scheme.

Outside of the TFA, George is part of the leadership team at his local church.

In 2022, George received the Farmers Weekly Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2023, he won the British Farming Award for outstanding contribution to agriculture. Harper Adams University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2024.

CPRE, the countryside charity’s campaign

CPRE is calling on the Government to commit to 60% of solar being installed on rooftops, including farm buildings. These include barns, dairy milking sheds, and other unused spaces like car park canopies or previously developed land. This approach would reduce pressure on green fields and help avoid environmental harm and risks to tenant farmers.

CPRE accepts a lower amount of ground-mounted will be needed, due to the urgency of sticking to targets defined by the Seventh Carbon Budget and meeting legally binding international commitments.

CPRE has produced guidance setting out key principles to avoid and reduce environmental harms, and maximise community benefits, such as harnessing combined heat and power systems – so that not only are net zero goals pursued to reduce dependency of our energy supply on fossil fuels, but that the cost-of-living crisis is addressed by reducing the cost of energy bills.