Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect agricultural land from solar development.
Scotland’s agricultural land and farming sector have a critical role to play in Scotland’s food security, producing food for consumption in Scotland, and increasing our economic resilience through exports of food and drink worth £7.6 billion in 2023.
National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) Policy 5 (Soils) sets out that development proposals on prime agricultural land, or land of lesser quality that is culturally or locally important for primary use, as identified by the local development plan, will only be supported in limited circumstances. This includes for the generation of energy from renewable sources where there is secure provision for restoration and the layout and design of the proposal minimises the amount of protected land required.
All development proposals are subject to site specific assessments.