Prime minister hits back at critics of Norfolk solar plans

Five major schemes unveiled in recent weeks would sprawl across a total of 17,000 acres of the county, equivalent to almost 10,000 football pitches. 

Responding to the backlash to these proposals, Sir Keir Starmer said people in Norfolk would reap the rewards of cheaper energy and could benefit through other forms of compensation, such as reduced bills.

The projects are integral to the Labour government achieving its hugely ambitious bid to decarbonise the grid by the end of the decade, which experts say will require an overhaul of the planning system to hit the target.

The decision on whether the Norfolk schemes will proceed will be made by energy secretary Ed Miliband, rather than local councils.

Energy secretary Ed Milliband will decide whether the solar farms should be built (Image: Jordan Pettitt) Comments made by Kay Mason Billig, leader of Norfolk County Council and a strong critic of the proposals, were put to the prime minister on BBC Radio Norfolk. 

Ms Billig has previously accused the government of "riding roughshod" over local opinion and claimed the county was "under attack" from the solar industry.

READ MORE: Village divided over plans that would see it surrounded by 2,700-acre solar farm

The prime minister said: “No, we're not running roughshod. It’s very important that communities have their say.

"We’re trying to balance two things here. We've got to move quickly to renewable energy, because it’s cheaper, it gives us independence, so it doesn’t fluctuate the whole time.

"We need to get renewable energy and that does then mean that we make some changes along the way - but the prize here is cheaper energy for people across Norfolk.

"I do think local communities need to be involved in the decision making and their views taken into account, and also where there is a change, we need to make sure the community affected gets the benefit, whether that’s through specially lower bills or whatever it may be."

Long Stratton could be surrounded by thousands of acres of solar farms (Image: Mike Page) The biggest planned solar farm for Norfolk - and the largest in the pipeline in the UK - is in Gissing, near Long Stratton, where 900 megawatts of power is expected to be generated across approximately 5,000 acres.

If all five schemes go ahead, the county's solar stock could be just one large project away from matching the size of the Sandringham estate, which stretches across some 20,000 acres. 

In contrast, it is understood that at the beginning of the year there were just 2,200 acres of solar farms in Norfolk.