Former North Devon MP Selaine Saxby says the Bulworthy Farm solar energy proposal is a step too far

This proposal — 80402 (North Devon), 1/0470/2025/FULM (Torridge) — will leave seven per cent of the parish of Horwood, Lovacott and Newton Tracey covered in solar panels and will likely grant the third unproved battery energy storage system (BESS) facility – which despite our fire service expressing grave concerns – are being ignored, because these sites are “in the national interest” – apparently!

What is bewildering to those of us with more than a passing interest in this matter, is that the XLinks cable which was also due to land at Abbotsham and plug in at Alverdiscott (where two of these massive solar farms also encroach on) has been cancelled.  

That was to be paid for by Morocco, not the UK, and would have provided eight per cent of our energy needs – surely that was in the national interest?  But no, the Labour government has withdrawn support for that and now it seems highly likely Morocco will progress anyway and send the electricity to mainland Europe, helping their energy security. Maybe then even sell that excess electricity on to us via existing interconnectors at an even higher price!

There was of course a sigh of relief that the XLinks cable did not have to go through 14km of farmland.  Until a legal challenge was raised against the White Cross floating offshore wind development in the Celtic Sea, proposing the cable for this project should go through Abbotsham/Alverdiscott rather than land at Saunton Sands, despite the former XLinks route being technologically and economically impossible for this standalone project.  

Anyone unsure about the Celtic Sea floating offshore wind (FLOW) development, never forget the wind generally blows in the Celtic Sea at times of slack wind off the eastern coast of England and Scotland. So it is vital to optimise the availability and reliability of wind generated energy by tapping into the Celtic Sea.  

But instead of XLinks or any sort of strategic support into the South West to get FLOW up and running we have our farms being overrun with solar panels.  I recognise many of the current Cabinet do struggle to understand where food comes from, with the punitive farm tax, alongside now even hard surfacing over allotments. 

But food security is as important to us as an island nation as energy security is, as we have seen during previous and current conflicts.  The proposed Bulworthy solar site alone is enough grass for 825,000 litres of milk a year!

I am no climate change denier, or averse to Devon doing its bit to generate renewable energy, but with the proliferation locally of solar farms and onshore wind, northern Devon has done its bit. 

 Where is the strategic plan to ensure that our food security is as secure as our energy?  Where is the strategic plan to plot where these solar farms are going to ensure one parish does not take such a disproportionate hit as proposed here?  Where is the land use strategy at a local level?  And where is the resource for overstretched planning authorities to take these decisions?  

Who is determining these land grabbing solar farms are in the national interest, yet XLinks is not?  And when are our bills coming down?  We haven’t even managed to secure the community fund for the Litchardon Cross project already up and running across the same parishes as the proposed Bulworthy site, with both being left to tiny parish councils to negotiate with developers.  

Not to mention  it appears that the Bulworthy proposal does not even have a secured grid connection.  Current planning proposals for solar farms in the UK far exceed the national electricity requirement, and many do not have a grid connection, which at present is not a requirement of passing planning permission, which also seems bewildering as the Alverdiscott queue currently stretches to 2035.  National Grid are due to release their strategic plans for what energy is needed where next year. 

I hope at the very least a decision on this development can at least be delayed until we have a clearer picture of what energy the Alverdiscott substation is going to be required to house, which rightly is in the national interest.  These decisions need to be co-ordinated and ensure areas like Northern Devon reliant on farming and tourism do not cover their fields with even more solar panels.

Rushing blindly towards net zero at all cost as this Labour government is doing will not save the planet – it will just destroy more of our British countryside, and further damage our farming communities, without reducing our energy bills.  Planning for the future with innovative new technologies such as FLOW; floating solar panels, modular nuclear takes time and requires huge changes to our grid.

It should not be the case that it is easy to get planning permission, even without a secured grid connection, and throw up large solar farms, when it is often so difficult or expensive to put solar panels on roofs at farms, industrial units, factories or homes.  Surely it would be more in the national interest to look towards smaller community schemes that benefit local businesses and consumers.

Northern Devon deserves better than yet another solar farm blighting our countryside and I hope residents will express their views on these proposals and that our councils will have the courage to listen, as I have seen no evidence to date that Bulworthy is in the local community, or the national interest.