Green energy – or green fields?

Is that the choice we face in the South Hams?

Fans of solar power will be hoping that a new solar farm on land owned by South West Water at Littlehempston gets the go-ahead soon. It may be decided next month. Yet some of those living nearby and working on the fields are concerned.

Farmer Dave Smith will lose acreage he currently rents from the water company to graze his sheep and cattle. He showed me where the solar array is planned. It runs near the river and the steam railway and rare breeds farm. One field which he runs sheep on has a high vantage point with a clear view of Totnes church. In turn the solar farm will be seen from Totnes.

Mr Smith wrote to the South Hams planners last year objecting to the solar farm proposal. His main beef is the industrialisation of a rural landscape and with that, the loss of productive land. The fields will be ringed with fences and security cameras. “We’ll just keep making our voices heard. I’m not anti-solar power but I just feel we cannot be ruining blocks of ground like this. We need to be farming and producing food locally for ourselves,” he said. “The question everybody needs to ask themselves when they wake up in the morning is do you want a bowl of cereal to eat or do you want to put the lights on – what’s most important? I know what I’d sooner have. I can sit and eat my cereal in the dark!”

Near neighbours who live along Hampstead Lane, the narrow road which serves his farmland and the water treatment works, also sent in an objection, saying that “unfortunately it comes as no
surprise to us that SWW feel it is acceptable to blight our landscape even further.”

South West Water

The scheme, which has already been amended to take out one parcel of land which would have been seen from Dartington Hall. SWW says the scheme will help to reduce its carbon emissions. It says the environment will gain from landscaping it plans to put in. It is also going to put solar panels on top of the underground water storage tanks.

Mr Smith is also concerned that construction traffic will clog up the Hampstead Lane route – he says lorries already get stuck there regularly. In 2024 Staverton parish council had its say on the plan and was also worried about vehicles which access the treatment works from the village. “The Parish Council strongly object on the grounds of lack of thought to the access to the site for construction traffic. The following key points were raised:

• Lorries already get stuck in Staverton on this proposed route.
• Another 440 movements are not viable.
• The comments made by DCC Highways are endorsed. Having guiding vehicles will not solve the logistical issues of lorries getting stuck, they will simply add to the jam.
• The proposed route also goes past a Primary School.
• There should be a proper complaints process to cater for inevitable damage to hedges and verges. “

Mr Smith he said he didn’t want to be thought of as “a moaning old farmer” – losing the fields he rents won’t be a massive blow, rather an inconvenience – but he feels passionately about our food security. He is not resigned to the decision being a done deal. “It’s not over till the fat lady sings, as they say,” he said. He’s the third generation in his family to farm in the area.

Keeping the Lights On

Can – or should – arguments against using agricultural land (this site is grade 3A) ever win against the local, regional and national climate change commitments already made?
Government policy states that development would be approved where any identified harm (to landscape, ecology etc) would be outweighed by the benefits. South Hams District Council has pledged to reduce the district’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. But some feel panels are better on top of buildings, not in fields, and that large solar farms are spreading at an “alarming” rate.

Devon’s farmland should not be covered in solar panels

A 2023 map drawn up by the rural pressure group CPRE says there are two 20+ acre solar farms in the South Hams. There are several smaller ones. Devon CPRE Director Penny Mills says, “Solar power has a part to play in providing so-called renewable energy but, in a wet climate like Devon’s, covering thousands of acres of productive pasture with glass is not the ‘green’ solution it’s claimed to be – especially when there are plenty of redundant brownfield sites and rooftops where the panels could be put.”

Devon CPRE trustee and energy spokesperson Dr Phillip Bratby adds, “At a time of rapidly rising food prices, we believe that Devon’s farmland should not be covered in solar panels to produce small quantities of expensive electricity at times of the day when it is least needed, but should instead be used to produce high-quality food for local consumers.”

A large 20 MW solar farm is also proposed at Stretchford Farm by British Solar Renewables. The SWW solar farm has an expected lifespan of 40 years – like many similar developments – and the company says it will then revert to farmland.

Mr Smith remains to be convinced that his sheep can either safely graze among the panels (as is suggested) and doesn’t know if by 2075 his family will still be farming. “We don’t produce enough of our own food now – it’s madness to take land out of production.”