Ed Miliband has come under fire for green-lighting a huge solar farm project owned by one of the Labour Party’s biggest donors.
The Energy Secretary has overruled local concerns about loss of agricultural land and “over industrialisation” to push through a 524-hectare solar farm planned by a major party donor.
Ed Miliband approved plans for the Heckington Fen Solar Park in Lincolnshire, to be built by a company owned by Dale Vince, who donated £5 million to the Labour Party last year, on Friday.
Objections to the proposal from residents mourned a “loss of top-grade agricultural land, gross over-industrualisation of the area and severe traffic impacts”, with many pointing to three already-approved solar plants in the county and another also green-lit by the government this week as evidence of its “detrimental impact”.
In a blistering response to the announcement, County councillor Colin Davie said: “Adding two more giant solar farms to Lincolnshire’s countryside, which have strong local opposition, shows that this government has not listened to our residents.”
The Heckington Fen and West Burton solar parks, both in Lincolnshire, would take up over 1,000 hectares of the county’s countryside, with a further 6,400 also under consideration.
Mr Davie said: “Trashing the countryside and putting ginormous industrial developments on agricultural land has understandably caused much local outrage.”
Describing them as a “slap in the face”, he added: “On top of this, I have no confidence that these schemes help in any way to delivering the affordable energy that we need.”
The councillor also accused Mr Miliband of playing into the hands of a major party donor in granting the project approval.
he told The Telegraph:“We need to ask the question of the Secretary of State as to whether he has declared the nature of his relationship with Dale Vince, the applicant for this site and the Labour Party’s biggest donor.”
Ecotricity, Mr Vince’s company behind the large-scale solar farm plans said the “major green energy project” would “help the country reach its net zero target and create hundreds of jobs” as well as delivering “a significant biodiversity boost across the site”.
The government also said the Heck Fen plant would be able to deliver 500MW of solar energy, powering up to 140,000 homes.
The plans have been unpopular among residents in the nearby village of Heckington since they were put forward in 2023. One letter of objection cautioned that the “gross [and] overbearing industrialisation” of the Lincolnshire countryside was “destroying [its capacity as] an agricultural growing area needed for food security”.
Tory MP Sir John Hayes, whose South Holland constituency borders the development, also criticised the plan’s removal of “prime agricultural land … from food production”.
He said: “It is so important that farming land such as this site remains in production to ensure that food prices remain affordable and we can continue to feed our nation.”
The government has been contacted for comment.