Labour’s net zero drive is “destroying businesses” and risks sparking “long-term damage”, a farming family has warned after the Government recommended a green energy scheme on its tenanted land. The Sturdy family has been left “shocked and devastated” after Labour recommended a solar panel scheme on its farm in North Yorkshire.
Harmony Energy has an application for a batch of solar panels to be built on the Malton site of Eden farm, which the Sturdy family has been farming for three generations. The Sturdy family claims the scheme could result in the loss of 42% of their tenanted land, which it has operated since 1954. The family says up to 110 of its 240 acres risk being replaced by solar panels. The land is part of the Fitzwilliam Trust Corporation’s estate, which Lady Rees-Mogg, the wife of the former MP for North East, is a director of. While the council initially rejected Harmony Energy’s application in 2023, the case later went to a public inquiry and was led by a planning inspector.
Housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycock has backed the planning inspector’s position. He recommended that permission for the scheme be granted, subject to conditions.
Emma Sturdy, 46, warned the “ill-judged decision” could “cause immeasurable long-term damage to our successful farming business and leave us with a very uncertain and difficult future”.
She told The Times: “This Labour Government does not support the hard-working farmer or family business and the drive to net zero nationally and locally is destroying businesses like ours.
“The prospect now for other tenant farmers successfully opposing solar energy schemes is remote in the extreme.”
The family has just over five weeks to challenge the ruling in the High Court and would consider appealing if it found a legal basis to do so.
Mrs Sturdy said: “We went into this with our eyes wide open and have always known that our arguments were sound in accordance with planning policy and we always hoped in our hearts that common decency and justice would prevail. We have no regrets but of course we are deeply disappointed.”
Harmony Energy said it was “pleased that the project can move forward following a thorough examination”.
It added: “We are committed to supporting the UK’s net zero transition and this decision will allow us to continue in that goal.
“Sites like this, located next to an existing substation, are crucial for enhancing energy security, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, lowering energy bills and driving job creation and economic growth, while reducing the nation’s reliance on foreign imports.
“The site has been planned to ensure that tenants can continue farming alongside the development.”
This comes after it emerged that large swathes of British farmland may have to be cut in order for Labour to meet its net zero target.
A benchmark set out in a consultation by Environment Secretary Steve Reed suggests that roughly 9% of farming land would need to be turned into forest and wild habitats by 2050 in order to meet the target.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) added that almost 20% of the country’s agricultural land must change in order to improve the ecosystem.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch slammed Labour for “adding even more burdens on farmers”.
She said: “[I’m] worried that we are adding even more burdens on farmers. [We’re] killing farmers in our country [through] the family farm tax, the family business tax, the rise in national insurance. To add even more burdens saying that we are going to spend more time on net zero shows they are not serious.”
Express has approached the Government for comment.
