2 weeks Ago By Stuart Minting
Almost a year after tenant farmer Robert Sturdy persuaded North Yorkshire planners that he should be allowed to continue working the land his family had invested in off Great Sike Road, Malton , since 1971 a government planning inspector will on Tuesday start hearing evidence at Ryedale House in the town over developer Harmony Energy’s appeal. The family believes the outcome of the appeal, which Mr Sturdy says if successful would "destroy everything I have worked my entire life for", will be of significance to other tenant farmers and farmers who rely on the land for a living. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with a Digital subscription to Yorkshire Post, you can get access to all of our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more.
Earlier this year, a former National Farmers Union (NFU) leader highlighted “horrific examples" of where tenant farmers were losing their land due to huge solar schemes so landowners could make more money. The warning followed Keir Starmer underlining at last year’s NFU conference that solar farms must not be created “by taking advantage of our tenant farmers”, However, last month it was reported Labour was changing the government’s stance to solar farms on best and most versatile graded fields and earlier this week, UK Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband vowed to “take on the blockers, the delayers, the obstructionists” to ensure clean energy schemes move forward. Harmony Energy has claimed the solar farm would generate sufficient power for 8,600 homes and be in use for 40 years.
Advertisement Advertisement The area the solar panels would cover represented a tiny fraction of the land in Yorkshire used to grow crops, the firm has added, stating the designated plot was the only site close enough to a substation and to make the venture viable. The proposal has attracted numerous local objections, including from Eden Camp Modern History Museum on the outskirts of Malton, which has claimed a solar development would put the attraction’s future at risk. Mrs Sturdy said Harmony Energy’s proposal for the land owned by the Fitzwilliam Estate was “socially unjust” which would “widen the gap between the privileged few and working tenant farmers and line the pockets of the wealthy estates”.
She said as the proposal had come forward without her family’s consent it felt “like having the carpet pulled from underneath our feet”. Advertisement Advertisement Mrs Sturdy said: “It feels very Victorian, with landowners kicking tenants off the farm to make a load of money. We don’t live in that era any more, everybody’s equal.
Everyone has forgotten there is a lifetime tenant here who deserves some fair compensation. “Now is the time for Keir Starmer to put his money where his mouth is and protect tenant farmers. It beggars belief that this could be supported through a Labour government for a net zero drive.
” She said the family had been left with no choice but to mount a defence, at the cost of much money and stress, adding: “We have been thrown to the wolves.”.
