European food crises mean countryside soil should be used for agriculture, not solar farms, a councillor has said.

North Herts Council’s planning committee refused permission for energy generation on fields three-and-a-half times the size of Walsworth Common after a debate on Thursday, November 16.

Tom Roseblade, representing the applicant, said the 35.5-hectare plot near St Ippolyts – between Stevenage and Hitchin – is well suited for a solar farm.

If plans were approved, the plant would have been in place for a “temporary” period of 40 years, next to a National Grid connection with capacity to link up new energy sources at Wymondley.

But Councillor David Barnard (Con, Hitchwood, Offa and Hoo), who does not sit on the committee, told his colleagues he “would prefer to hear cows mooing than cabinets murmuring”.

He said: “The removal of valuable food-producing agricultural land will necessitate the importation of produce by land vehicles and by aircraft.

“This will produce much carbon emissions and potentially put the food supply chain at the mercy of foreign producers.

“I’m sure you will all remember earlier this year when there was a bit of a food shortage across Europe and the UK was the very first to suffer with empty supermarket shelves.”

According to a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs food security report, the UK produced around 60 per cent of its food consumption by economic value, which includes exports.

“This means just under half of the actual food on plates is produced in the UK,” it notes.

The government report adds: “The biggest medium-to-long-term risk to the UK’s domestic production comes from climate change and other environmental pressures like soil degradation, water quality and biodiversity.”

In 2023, empty shelves made national headlines, including “Let Them Eat Turnips” on the Daily Star and “The day that Britain turned into the (empty) basket case of Europe” on the Independent front pages last February.

Cllr Barnard added: “I’m concerned that the visual outlook of our green belt and open countryside will be destroyed for 40 years.”

He raised fears neighbours and ramblers “on our historic footpaths” may hear a humming noise.

Cllr Tom Tyson (LD, Arbury), who sits on the committee, said council members had visited another solar farm in the district.

He said “There was a slight hum” but the “one thing that was very striking about that location was that you couldn’t see it from anywhere nearby on the roads until you got right up to the site itself”.

Cllr Tyson said: “I think everyone here is in favour of renewable energy generation, but I don’t think it’s fair to impose industrial landscapes in rural countryside where the visual harm is lasting and of high impact.”

Mr Roseblade told the committee: “North Hertfordshire declared a climate emergency in 2019 and is aiming to become a net-zero carbon district by 2040.

“This is an admirable and appropriate mission but one which will not be delivered without difficult decisions being made.

“The solar farm put forward to you today benefits from a committed connection to the National Grid and is able to be delivered and connected by 2026.

“It is well documented that at present, grid capacity is a saturated market.

“There simply aren’t enough substations with capacity to accept grid connections for renewable energy schemes.

“The Wymondley substation has significant capacity for connection, and that is why schemes are coming forward in this local area.”

Mr Roseblade added the developer would be prepared to put forward an amended scheme to limit visual harms, including reducing the number of panels and increasing footpath buffers to screen the site.

The National Grid was built throughout the 20th century and was designed to send energy from bulk supply points, such as power stations like Rye House in Hoddesdon and Sizewell near Ipswich, Suffolk, to the places where people live and work.

The firm has said there is “a demand for far more sockets than are necessary in any credible future energy scenario”, where renewable energy sources can “plug into” the network.

In the King’s Speech on November 7, the government promised to “reform grid connections” and “attract record levels of investment in renewable energy sources”.

Two nearby major solar schemes are in the planning process – for a 53.6ha plant at Bygrave and an 88ha site in the Great Wymondley area.

Decision makers are yet to rule on both of these schemes.