Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to ensure trial trenching requirements for ground-mounted solar farms are proportionate to the amount of land disturbed through their construction and operation.

As set out in the updated Energy National Policy Statements, the extent of investigative work to assess potential impacts of ground mount solar projects on the historic environment, including trial trenching, should be proportionate to the sensitivity of, and extent of, proposed ground disturbance in the associated study area.