The approval of the Springwell Solar Farm in Lincolnshire in April 2026 brought the tension between large-scale solar development and agricultural land protection into sharp focus. At 800MW across 1,280 hectares, it is set to become the UK’s largest solar farm. Two local councils, including one controlled by Reform UK, have since announced legal challenges, arguing that the approval process failed to properly weigh the cumulative impact on high-quality farmland and rural communities.
The debate is not new, but it is intensifying. CPRE research published in mid-2025 found that 59% of England’s largest operational solar farms are located on productive farmland, with almost a third of that area classified as Best and Most Versatile (BMV) land. The government, meanwhile, is targeting 45 to 57GW of solar capacity by 2030, roughly 2.5 times what was installed as of early 2025. Meeting that target without significant use of agricultural land is, by almost any analysis, extremely difficult.
What the planning framework says
The National Planning Policy Framework protects BMV agricultural land, which covers Grades 1, 2 and 3a. Solar farm applications on BMV land are frequently challenged and sometimes refused at local level, though the picture at Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project level is different. Since the current government took office, only one NSIP solar application has been rejected nationally. The NSIP threshold itself was raised from 50MW to 100MW in December 2025, meaning projects between 50MW and 100MW now go through the faster local planning route rather than the DCO process.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, includes changes to the NSIP process that would tighten the procedure for legal challenge, including a mechanism to designate cases as being without merit. The direction of travel from government is clearly towards faster consenting, not slower.
What this means for developers
For developers, the practical implications are twofold. First, agricultural land classification is not just a planning risk, it is increasingly a reputational and community relations issue. Projects on lower-grade land, or with strong biodiversity commitments, are better placed both at planning and in the communities they will operate alongside for decades. Second, the legal challenge route is becoming more contested. Developers should expect NSIP approvals to face judicial review attempts from local authorities, and should build that risk into their programme and financing assumptions.
CPP provides development management and feasibility services for solar PV projects at all scales, including site selection advice that takes agricultural land classification and community engagement into account from the outset. Contact us at info@cpp.consulting to discuss a project.