The claim from Sir David Davis came as MPs debated the use of agricultural land for solar farms, which also follows Energy Secretary Ed Miliband last week approving a solar farm in East Yorkshire as big as the city of Durham.
The decision has led newly-elected Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor Luke Campbell to write to Mr Miliband asking the Labour politician to reverse his decision.
“We mustn’t let our precious East Yorkshire farmland be destroyed,” the Reform Party mayor told the Press.
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Sir David, who represents Goole and Pocklington, told the House on Thursday that central government has set up the arrangements concerning how renewable energy is funded.
He said: “They are guaranteeing 10% to 20% returns on investment on these farms—is in effect bribing farmers to move away from farming?”
Sir David also said the approval of the 3,150 acre East Yorkshire Solar farm between Wressle and Howden had made him angry because the decision “rode roughshod over the desires, wishes and expressed complaints of my constituents.”
The Conservative MP continued: “Multiple towns and villages will be completely surrounded by the East Yorkshire Solar Farm. Another one, the Mylen Leah solar farm, which would cover another 3,000 acres, is proposed for right next door. That will effectively be 6,000 acres.”
Rather than beautiful countryside, people would see “a view of black plastic,” which was why 90% of locals in a survey he carried out opposed the size of the solar farm.
Earlier, MPs heard from Gainsborough Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh that the concentration of solar farms varied. The constituency of Newark was most affected with 8.85 per cent of land taken up by solar farms. Selby was on 4.22 per cent.
Sir David explained: “It depends on access to the grid. Therefore, the reason I have farms of 2,000 acres, 3,000 acres—probably more—is that we are near Drax on the grid.
“That encourages a concentration of huge farms in concentrated areas all over the country, where ordinary people will have their lives destroyed by an ill-thought-through, rotten policy.”
Michael Shanks, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, said solar energy on the day of the debate (Thursday) was generating 30 per cent of the country’s electricity, “more than any other technology.”
“Solar plays a crucial role in our energy mix,” the Labour MP continued.
“The clean power mission that this Government have embarked on is not about ideology. It is about delivering energy security, climate leadership, and the only way in which we can move away from volatile fossil fuels setting our constituents’ bills, which is what so many have faced over the past few years. It is the only way to create well-paid industrial jobs and deliver the clean power mission right across the country.”
Mr Shanks said this is not a battle between food security and energy security as both can be achieved. Residents were also “frequently consulted” in the planning process.
Government guidance is for brownfield sites to be used, rather than farmland, and in such cases, lower quality farmland, he continued.
Mr Shanks concluded: “Solar power is one of the cheapest forms of energy that we have in this country. It is deployable at scale, and can play a critical role in delivering our energy security and in our delivering the climate leadership that we need—to tackle not a future threat, but a present reality that will affect farmers up and down the country if we do not do so.”
