Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of solar farms on underlying soil quality.

A wide range of public assessments have been made on the uses of land alongside and underneath solar panels, such as livestock grazing and other approaches to species-rich grassland creation.

When considering development proposals that affect agricultural land and soils, the Government encourages developers and local planning authorities to refer to relevant Government policies and guidance that aim to protect all soils by managing them in a sustainable way.