Solar power divides Warwickshire’s farmers

As cars zip down the M6 near Bedworth, Warwickshire, a large field alongside the motorway lies empty.

With parched grass and dry mud as far as the eye can see, the field looks like typical farmland and has been used for growing crops in the past.

But the owners of this land are embracing a new type of farming, one that yields renewable energy rather than food.

“One of the things we’d like to do is diversify and futureproof the farm for our sons,” says Cathie Barrs, whose family has been farming in the area for decades.

The local council has approved the family’s planning application for a 50-acre solar farm with battery storage, and a solar-powered vertical farm.

Mrs Barrs says they grow crops on most of the 800-acre Littlebrook Farm. “But,” she adds, “we feel that for the next generation, it’s really difficult to farm in a profitable manner.

“So we feel this is the way we’d like to go and it’s a very clean technology.”

Starting with initial research in 2019, it’s taken five years to get to this stage. And yet, not a single solar panel can be seen on the ground.

Mrs Barrs described the planning process as “onerous”.

The new Labour government says it wants to do something about that, by reforming the planning system and making it easier to build solar farms.

Read more: BBC