Alan Titchmarsh was opposed to a solar fam being built near his home (Image: Getty)
Love Your Weekend presenter has hit out at about Labour’s plans to triple the nation’s solar capacity by the end of the decade by building solar farms.
The celebrity gardener previously opposed plans for a 22,000-panel solar farm near his home. The plans were later withdrawn by the developers for technical reasons. Blasting plans for solar farms to be built on “fields of good earth”, he claimed the energy saved will be used to “ship cheap foreign food” to Britain.
The Gardener’s World presenter said he wants farmers to be paid to keep land “healthy and productive” instead. He suggested those planning solar farms fail to see what the energy saved will actually be used for.
He told Gardeners’ World magazine: “We need environmental scientists and climatologists, but we also need gardeners and farmers who want to be stewards of the land and ensure that it is tended in such a way that it remains healthy and productive into the future.
“Alas, today we pay farmers to fill fields of good earth with solar panels to save energy, failing to see that the energy saved is likely being used to ship cheap foreign food across the oceans to our shores.”
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The proposed solar farm near Alan Titchmarsh’s home isn’t going ahead (Image: Solent News & Photo Agency)
His latest remarks come after he appeared on the Rosebud podcast last month and . “When we were little in the 1950s, 30% of the household income was spent on food,” he said. “Nowadays it’s between eight and 12%.
“We spend more on leisure and recreation than we do on our food, as a result of which we won’t pay more for food because it’s cheap in supermarkets, therefore why should we pay more when we can get it for that,” he said.
“Our good soil, in the British Isles, is being turned over to solar panels, when it could grow good food – to solar panels to save energy which will allow foreign food to be brought over, using the energy that we’ve saved. It’s bonkers. And it’s bad land management,” he continued.
“I’ve gone on a rant. But we desperately need to change our landscape to pay our farmers a fair price for their food, and to buy locally – otherwise I predict within 50 years there will be no food grown in Britain.”
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Local residents were not happy about plans to build a solar farm in the area (Image: Solent News & Photo Agency)
The Labour government has announced plans to triple the nation’s solar capacity by the end of the decade as aims to overhaul the UK energy system by 2030. pledge to install solar panels across the UK by 2035 has enraged farming campaigners who said it will have a devastating impact on the UK countryside.
A little over an estimated would be used, more than Greater London’s 607 sq miles. – from Lincolnshire to South Wales and the West Country.
Up to 130 sq miles would be needed in East Anglia and the South East to contribute to the Government’s plan for solar to generate 64GW in England and Wales by 2030. One gigawatt requires 10 to 11 sq miles of solar panels. Solar panels vary in size, but are typically about two square metres.
The Government released an extensive plan on Friday setting out how ministers intend to lay the foundation for achieving its target of 95% clean power across the UK by 2030.