'Countryside should not become home to eco deserts'

REFORM WILL OPPOSE SOLAR AND BATTERY ENERGY FARMS

- By EDDIE BISKNELL

SOLAR and electricity battery farms will turn the countryside into “Chinese-manufactured eco deserts”, says the Reform county council administration.

Councillor Alan Graves, below, leader of Derbyshire County Council, is proposing that the authority formally opposes the development of large solar farms and battery energy storage systems (BESS) on greenfield sites in South Derbyshire.

The county council decides planning applications for waste infrastructure and quarrying, but is merely a consultee for solar farms and BESS schemes, which fall to the districts or depending on scale - central Government.

Councillor Graves' motion mentions five solar and BESS applications in South Derbyshire, three of which have been approved with two pending with the district council.