Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what guidance his Department issues to planning inspectors on the weighting to be given to Best and Most Versatile (BMV) agricultural land when determining solar farm appeals; and whether he plans to update that guidance.

Appeals against planning refusal are decided in accordance with the applicable planning policies – in most cases, these are the National Planning Policy Framework and the Planning Practice Guidance.

These state that, wherever possible, developers should utilise previously developed land; where the development of agricultural land is shown to be necessary, lower-quality land should be preferred. Decision-makers should also consider whether the proposal allows for continued agricultural use where applicable and/or encourages biodiversity improvements around arrays.

The Government keeps planning policy under constant review. The Planning Practice Guidance will be updated in due course.