We need pylons and solar farms, says Green leader

The new leader of the Greens Zack Polanski said pylons and solar farms were needed to help create green energy

The new leader of the Green Party said the country badly needed new energy infrastructure, and there needed to be a place for new pylons and large solar farms.

Speaking ahead of his party's conference, Zack Polanski told BBC Look East that local people should be consulted properly about proposed developments.

But he said it was also important to recognise that new infrastructure was needed to help tackle climate change.

There have been numerous protests across the East of England against plans for giant solar farms and a 114-mile-long chain of pylons between Norwich and Tilbury in Essex.

The party's former co-leader, Adrian Ramsay, who is MP for Waveney Valley on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, was criticised by the Prime Minister on several occasions for his opposition to the pylons scheme.

But the new leader is signalling a stronger and clearer line on this controversial issue.

There have been widespread protests against the plans for new pylons between Norwich and Tilbury

Ramsay and many Green councillors opposed solar farms and pylons, arguing that the plans either had not been properly thought through or that less disruptive options were available.

But Polanski makes it very clear where his party stands, and said: "We badly need energy infrastructure.

"We need to make sure that consultation is not notification. It shouldn't be politicians [and] the energy companies deciding how it should be. We should make sure that the people most affected are at the table.

"But it's also important in the same breath to recognise that to tackle the climate crisis, we will need infrastructure."

He continued: "What Adrian was doing was consulting with residents, and that's exactly what a constituency MP should do. But he recognises, as much as I do, the need to get this right."

National Grid said independent studies showed that pylons were the quickest and cheapest option for carrying energy from offshore wind farms.

Polanski said an integrated energy system with solar panels on every new home (something Labour is introducing) and making buildings more energy efficient would mean there would be less need for giant solar farms, but added that solar and pylons would still have to be part of the drive for green energy.

Does he think that will upset people in the region who may have voted Green in past?

"It is also important to realise that we live in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and the Green Party will always make the case for protecting nature," he replied.

As an example, he said he accepted the need for more homes in the region, but they should be built on brownfield sites.

Different style of leadership

Polanski said former party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Waveney Valley MP Adrian Ramsay did an "incredible job"

Under their leadership, the Greens won four seats in Parliament and now run Mid Suffolk, East Suffolk and East Hertfordshire councils. They are also part of the ruling coalition on Babergh District Council in Suffolk and the main opposition on Norwich City and Suffolk county councils.

However, the new leader said his style would be different to that of Ramsay.

"I communicate differently, I'm more willing to pick fights, to challenge Labour and take the fight to Reform UK," he said,

"This is not a change of policy but a change of emphasis."

It is a new style of leadership which has excited many party members who overwhelmingly chose him to be their leader. But some have told the BBC they worry that his more robust style might put off some voters, including former Conservative voters, who have recently turned to the Greens.

Next year's local elections will be the first test for the new leader.