Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to require Environmental Impact Assessments to be carried out for all rural solar farm developments with a generating capacity below 50 megawatts.

Projects with a generating capacity of 100MW and less are considered under the provision of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is required only for certain types of development.

An EIA may be necessary where the local planning authority determines that the development is likely to give rise to significant environmental effects, having regard to matters such as scale, location, and environmental sensitivity.