Locals are outraged at plans for a massive solar farm the size of 2,800 football pitches.
Locals are angry with the net zero minister over the plans for a huge solar farm (Image: Getty, PA )
Furious locals say a massive 16-square-mile solar farm planned by Ed Miliband’s net zero department will leave a “scar” on the green and pleasant countryside. The Springwell solar power station, which will cover an area the size of 2,800 football pitches, is proposed for a site between Lincoln and Sleaford in the rural heart of eastern England. It’s feared Lincolnshire will be stripped of its ‘bomber county’ prestige, as a result.
Campaigner David Suiter said the scale of the eco-project was “alarming” and that “it will leave an enormous scar” on the local North Kesteven district. Fellow independent councillor Marianne Overton is also backing opposition to the plans, she told the Guardian: “This is the Lincolnshire countryside”.
Labour Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, headed up by Ed Miliband, has been pushing for a flurry of huge solar projects across the nation and this latest site in Lincolnshire would be almost four times larger than the biggest of its kind currently in the UK. The top-down planning has sparked protests up and down the country as locals claim the schemes will damage the rural environment.
Ed Miliband’s department have been forging ahead with plans for solar farms (Image: PA )
Despite local objections, Mr Miliband has promised to “take on the blockers, the delayers, the obstructionists” in a clear sign he is prepared to go to war with rural communities who oppose his net zero crusade. The energy secretary claims solar and wind projects are a matter of “national security” and “economic justice”.
The Guardian reports responding to Mr Miliband’s pledge, Ms Overton said: “It was wicked, in my opinion. Why are we losing some of the best agricultural land in the world to put up solar panels imported from Chinese companies which use coal power to run their factories?”
However, Mr Miliband and Labour have faced stiff resistance at the ballot box from voters who have been attracted to Reform UK’s stance against a proliferation of solar and wind energy. The deputy leader of Reform, Richard Tice, won the local parliamentary seat in last year’s General Election.
Speaking during a visit to a solar park in East Yorkshire earlier this year, Mr Miliband said: “Whenever decisions like that are made, we listen to local people’s views.
“But we have to make also wider decisions about how we’re going to get clean, homegrown power that we control so we can cut people’s bills and we know what happens when we’re left reliant on fossil fuels.”
(File image) Shotwick Solar Energy Park, a huge solar farm in Wales (Image: Getty )
But Reform UK have enjoyed increased support in many areas earmarked for net zero industry expansion, and leader Nigel Farage told a meeting in Lincolnshire the county was in danger of becoming known just for a connection to solar power.
He said: “Lincolnshire was known as the bomber county, and people were very proud of that and Lincolnshire’s role in the war.
“In future, it’ll be the pylon county, it’ll be the substation county. It’ll be the solar farm county.”
