'I don't want this to be the last harvest'

Tenant farmers Rob and Emma Sturdy say the farm would struggle if the plans went ahead

A near four-year battle that has seen a North Yorkshire tenant farmer try to stop a solar farm being built on the land he works is going to a public inquiry.

Rob Sturdy and his wife Emma fear the 280-acre Eden Farm in Old Malton, owned by the Fitzwilliam Trust Corporation, would become unviable as a business if the plans went ahead.

Harmony Energy said it had reduced the amount of high-grade land included within the proposed development site, reducing the overall size of the solar farm by 35%.

Harmony's original application - to build the solar farm on 110 acres of Eden Farm - was thrown out by North Yorkshire Council planners in October 2023.

A public inquiry will be held next week on controversial plans for a solar farm in Old Malton

Eden Farm was managed by Mr Sturdy's grandfather, before his father, John, took it on in 1971.

Mr Sturdy agreed a three-generation tenancy with the landowners, meaning the farm could, in future, be run by one of his children.

But he said: "If the inspector does grant this application, it'll be a complete struggle.

"The remaining farmland would barely produce enough straw for the livestock.

"We need all that straw for the bedding and the feed. I don't want this to become the last harvest."

Solar energy is a big part of the new Labour government's energy policy.

Energy Secretary - and Yorkshire MP - Ed Miliband said he wanted to quadruple UK solar power, which he said, would help fight climate change and bring economic growth and new jobs.

'Wrong place'

Mrs Sturdy said she accepted there needed to be more use of renewable energy, and she did not oppose the building of solar farms.

But she said: "They need to be built in the right place.

"Why not on the roofs of factories or huge warehouses?

"This - a viable tenanted farm - with high-quality agricultural land, is the wrong place for a solar farm."

Frances Nicholson, one of Harmony Energy's directors, said the firm had reduced the amount of high-grade land in the area covered by its proposed development.

If the solar farm was built, it would provide energy to power the equivalent of more than 8,000 homes, Ms Nicholson said.

She said: "The solar farm would take out about 12,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide from day-to-day use.

"We need to be as close as possible to the point of connection.

"That invariably has to take some agricultural land out of production.

"But we've worked really hard to refine the site down to utilise the poorest performing land in the area."

The public inquiry is due to begin in Malton on Tuesday.

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