Labour accused of sacrificing farmland as Miliband backs vast new solar and wind schemes across UK
CP
Ed Miliband has triggered fierce political and rural backlash after approving dozens of renewable energy projects that critics say will swallow productive farmland and scar treasured landscapes.
The Energy Secretary has signed off subsidies for 134 solar farms in England and a further 23 across Wales and Scotland, alongside 28 major onshore wind projects, largely on hillsides in Scotland and Wales.
Officials confirmed the new approvals include 4.9 gigawatts of solar capacity, 1.3 gigawatts of onshore wind and four tidal schemes totalling 21 megawatts, following confirmation earlier this month of subsidies for 8.4 gigawatts of offshore wind.
Taken together, campaigners estimate the solar schemes alone could cover more than 40 square miles of largely agricultural land, close to the area of Manchester, roughly 45 square miles. Industry figures dispute that scale, arguing improved panel efficiency will shrink the footprint to about 36 square miles, similar to Stoke on Trent.
Among the most controversial projects is the vast West Burton solar development on prime farmland on the Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire border, and one of Britain’s most northerly solar farms on agricultural land in north Aberdeenshire. Mr Miliband has also approved England’s largest onshore wind project in a decade in a former mining area in Cornwall, the Imerys Wind Farm, which is expected to generate 20 megawatts.
Under the Government’s Contracts for Difference scheme, the projects will receive guaranteed minimum prices for their electricity for 20 years once operational, funded by levies on consumer bills. New solar farms will be paid £68.17 per megawatt hour in today’s prices, while onshore wind will receive £75.50, both above the roughly £60 per megawatt hour that markets currently expect for summer 2028 deliveries.
If that gap persists, households and businesses would make up the difference through higher charges on energy bills. The Office for Budget Responsibility warned last year that such levies are forecast to rise from £2.3 billion in 2024 to 25 to around £5 billion by 2030 to 31.
Opposition politicians seized on that projection. Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, said the subsidies would ultimately drive prices up, adding: “The true cost of this power, once you add in network charges and back up, is far higher, so all this will do is make our electricity even more expensive.
“For a stronger economy and better living standards, we need to make electricity cheap.”
Rural and community groups were even more scathing. Rosie Pearson, chair of the Community Planning Alliance, accused ministers of sacrificing food production and landscapes, saying: “This represents further destruction of countryside and best farmland while warehouse roofs, car parks and houses sit empty of solar panels.
“Add that to the pylons that accompany the solar farms and rural areas are being industrialised. We see once again that food security, nature and landscapes do not matter to Miliband.”
In Scotland, similar anger has focused on wind developments. Helen Crawford, from the Highland Community Council Convention on Major Energy Infrastructure, said: “The lack of strategic spatial planning has created a democratic deficit between communities and policy makers. As a country we are simply not keeping pace with the speed of energy development and what’s in the pipeline. This is failing communities.”
Energy companies and renewable lobby groups, however, welcomed the announcement as a breakthrough for clean power. James Robottom of RenewableUK argued the projects would stabilise costs, saying: “These new onshore wind projects will shield consumers from volatile global gas prices. Onshore wind farms generate clean energy at a predictable and stable cost and they’re one of the UK’s cheapest forms of new power.”
Chris Hewett, chief executive of Solar Energy UK, called the approvals “a milestone for the solar sector”, adding: “They are proof positive that it provides the cheapest power available.”
Mr Miliband insisted the programme was essential for Britain’s long term security, declaring: “By backing solar and onshore wind at scale, we’re driving bills down for good and protecting families, businesses, and our country from the fossil fuel roller coaster controlled by petrostates and dictators.”
For critics in the countryside, those assurances cut little ice. With thousands of acres of farmland earmarked for panels and turbines, and billions of pounds in bill levies looming over the next decade, the row over whether green energy is being delivered at too high a price, economically and environmentally, is only intensifying.
This article (Labour accused of sacrificing farmland as Miliband backs vast new solar and wind schemes across UK) was created and published by Conservative Post and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author CP
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Someone rid the UK of this meddlesome idiot!
he needs to be ‘repealed’ permanently, just like the US endangerment finding !
PETER HALLIGAN
From here:
Miliband approves solar farms big enough to cover most of Manchester
Miliband is a loose cannon who will not be prosecuted for the TREASON he is committing because his ‘colleagues believe in making the taxpayers ad bill payers shoulder the burden of his insane and unchallenged ‘follies’.
[…]
Ed Miliband has approved plans for new solar farms that could cover an area of farmland nearly as large as Manchester.
“The Energy Secretary on Tuesday handed subsidies to 134 new solar farms across England and 23 in Wales and Scotland. He also approved 28 large wind farms, mostly on Scottish and Welsh hillsides.”
He has an unlimited budget with no oversight or checks and balances.
What right or authority does he have to sentence consumers (30 million households) to higher utility bills, destroy prime agricultural land and blight the prior glorious views enjoyed by everyone??
I will tell you – he has legal right to do this. Nobody voted for it and he has gone rogue.
It is akin to the education minister mandating the teachings of Charman Mao and Karl Marx in every classroom and on free I-phone17’s phone and the latest laptop computers to be studied for four hours a day, seven days a week from the ages of 5 -50. Utter lunacy.
“Operators of the projects will get a guaranteed minimum price for the power they produce for two decades after they switch on, thanks to consumer-funded subsidies.
“Based on past developments, the solar projects would cover more than 40 sq miles of mainly farmland – close to the size of Manchester, which is about 45 sq miles.
“Helen Crawford, of the Highland Community Council Convention on Major Energy Infrastructure, said Scotland’s landscapes and communities were being destroyed by wind farm developments because of a lack of planning.
“Mr Miliband hailed the announcement as securing the UK’s energy future. He said: “By backing solar and onshore wind at scale, we’re driving bills down for good and protecting families, businesses, and our country from the fossil fuel roller-coaster controlled by petrostates and dictators.”
Asa reminder the average bill for dual fuel gas and electricity to UK households has increased from £600 a year in 2006 to almost £2,000 a year today ad are the most expensive in the western world.
All promises to reduce bills by £300 a year have been lost in the mists of time. All current government measures to reduce bills by £250 a year, merely give back some of the taxes imposed by the government. Here, I will give you back £250 of the £1,000 I stole from you!
“Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, said the subsidies would pile more costs on to consumers. She said: “The true cost of this power, once you add in network charges and back-up, is far higher, so all this will do is make our electricity even more expensive.
“Under the Government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, new onshore wind farms will get a minimum price of £75.50 per megawatt hour (MWh) in today’s prices while new solar farm operators will get £68.17.
Guaranteed price for TWENTY YEARS!!!
“That is higher than the £60 per MWh that markets are pricing for electricity to be delivered in summer 2028 – roughly the time it will take for the latest projects to be delivered.
“The Office for Budget Responsibility last year warned that CfD levies on consumer and business bills were set to rise from £2.3bn in 2024-25 to around £5bn by 2030-31.”
FROM Brave AI:
“Ed Miliband, the UK’s Energy Secretary, has approved a major expansion of offshore wind farms through a record £1.8bn annual subsidy package, which will be funded by energy bill levies over 20 years.”
“ The plan, part of Allocation Round Seven, awards contracts for six new offshore wind projects, including three of the world’s largest—Dogger Bank, Berwick Bank, and Norfolk Vanguard—alongside two floating wind farms off Pembrokeshire and Scotland’s north coast. These projects are expected to generate 8.4 gigawatts of power, enough to supply around 12 million homes, and are central to Labour’s goal of achieving nearly 100% clean electricity by 2030.
Wind turbines provide electricity for around 30 per cent of the time and need renewable back-up for 70 per cent of he time. So that 8.4 GW is only 2.5 GW. With 4.9 GW supplied by natural gas or purchased from overseas.
“The subsidies, guaranteed via Contracts for Difference (CfD), will average £91 per megawatt hour, rising to a potential peak of £1.8bn annually by 2032–33 as construction progresses. The government argues this will lower wholesale electricity prices over time, mitigating the long-term impact on bills. However, critics, including the Conservative Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho and Reform UK, have condemned the move as economically reckless, warning it will lock households into decades of higher energy costs and damage the UK’s industrial competitiveness.
“ Ørsted, a major developer, has already revived plans for the Hornsea 4 wind farm after Miliband increased CfD rates to £95/MWh and extended contract durations to 20 years.”
“Despite Labour’s claims of energy sovereignty and cost savings compared to gas plants, the policy faces scrutiny amid rising public concern over energy affordability and the UK’s already high electricity prices.
What right does Miliband have to jeopardise food production ad cover the UK countryside with forests of wind turbines and plantations of solar panels. – the costs of which exclude the return of he land back to its original – unadulterated – state.
The build-out of wind and solar panel farms is a crime against the UK that nobody has the will, the ability or the gumption to challenge in its entirety for pounds shillings and pence budget or environmental impact.
Onwards!!!
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This article (Someone rid the UK of this meddlesome idiot!) was created and published by Peter Halligan and is republished here under “Fair Use”
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