But the 56-year-old says he now faces being \u201ctotally surrounded\u201d by panels up to 15-ft high stretching across more than 10,000 acres of local land as part of Government plans to boost Britain\u2019s solar energy.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt will be highly intrusive. We live in the country for that reason \u2013 to be in the countryside, not in fields full of cheap, Chinese plastic, glass infrastructure that will ruin our family life and make us unable to sell,\u201d he told The i Paper.<\/p>\n He fears five huge new solar farms,<\/a> with panels the height of a double-decker bus, being built near his home could reduce its value by up to 25 per cent.<\/p>\n West Burton, one of the decommissioned coal-fired power stations that will receive the solar energy, is visible in the distance across the flat plains next to Mr Skelton\u2019s home where the panels will be installed.<\/p>\n Developers and the Government say the farms, including the Tillbridge Solar Project, which would be the UK\u2019s largest, will power hundreds of thousands of homes and provide jobs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lincolnshire is known as the breadbasket of Britain, with around 30 per cent of the UK\u2019s vegetables and 18 per cent of its poultry produced in the county.<\/p>\n But Mr Skelton and others in the area say it will do nothing for energy security \u2013 and make food security more of a problem.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a hellish blight on the landscape for very little gain in energy. It\u2019s absolutely ludicrous,\u201d said Mr Skelton, who is part of the 7,000 Acres campaign group.<\/p>\n Since Labour took power last year, it has approved 17 nationally significant clean energy infrastructure projects, including seven large solar farms in Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n The Government says these will provide enough clean energy to power the equivalent of over 7.5 million homes.<\/p>\n May\u2019s local elections saw Reform take over control of Lincolnshire County Council with the local authority\u2019s new leader, Sean Matthews, wasting no time in spelling out his opposition to central government\u2019s solar plans.<\/p>\n The Reform UK<\/a> councillor has vowed to \u201clay down in front of bulldozers\u201d to stop the infrastructure being installed across Lincolnshire farmland, with discontent about the plan \u201cfront and centre\u201d of emails he receives from constituents.<\/p>\n \u201cEd Miliband is literally trying to turn Lincolnshire into a wasteland of solar panels,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is what my constituents, the people that live in Lincolnshire, are always talking about, it\u2019s heartbreaking. They are beside themselves, distraught.\u201d<\/p>\n He says he\u2019s exploring the prospect of judicial reviews to the Government plans.<\/p>\n While he insists \u201cthere is space\u201d for solar in a Reform Government\u2019s energy policy, he believes the panels should \u201cprobably\u201d be confined to people\u2019s homes.<\/p>\n \u201cI will do everything I possibly can to delay and stop these plans so that when we become the government \u2026 whenever that is, we will stop them straight away,\u201d Matthews said.<\/p>\n The Government says families are still feeling the impact of the UK\u2019s reliance on volatile global gas markets, which helped cause the cost of living crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Clean, homegrown power that Britain controls is the \u201conly way to protect billpayers from future price shocks\u201d, Ed Miliband\u2019s Department of Energy Security and Net Zero say.<\/p>\n Lincolnshire has been picked to locate the solar farms because of its grid capacity, according to trade body Solar Energy UK.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that area there are a number of large, coal-fired power stations which shut down, so are no longer generating power,\u201d said Chris Hewett, the group\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, there\u2019s capacity in the grid in that area. So what you\u2019re seeing is different forms of energy generation plugging into that grid.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an efficient way of generating power for the country, because otherwise you\u2019re going to be putting it somewhere else and creating other network infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n Although defunct, the coal-fired power stations can still transmit solar-produced energy into the national grid.<\/p>\n Hewett also points to benefits such as solar being the cheapest form of electricity generation.<\/p>\n And while panels on homes are \u201cfantastic\u201d, for the greatest number of people to benefit renewables must go to the national grid as well, he argues, adding any incoming government planning to scrap the farms could face a legal challenge.<\/p>\n The rise of renewables hit a historic turning point when wind and solar energy overtook coal as the world\u2019s leading source of electricity in the first half of this year, according to recent data,<\/p>\n China and India were largely responsible for the surge, while the US and Europe relied more than previously on fossil fuels, global energy think-tank Ember revealed.<\/p>\n Environmentalists have urged Rachel Reeves to prioritise reducing electricity bills in next week\u2019s Budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n Amid a backlash, the Government has vowed people living near new electricity pylons as part of a \u201cGreat Grid Upgrade\u201d will have \u00a32,500 slashed from their energy bills over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n For people living near the new solar farms, the Government is consulting with developers on benefits such as funding for new education schemes, grassroots football pitches or better transport links. <\/p>\n But the plans to scale up Britain\u2019s solar farms have met local opposition in adjoining villages around Lincolnshire, where signs from campaign group 7,000 Acres say \u201cNo to solar farms on UK farmland\u201d.<\/p>\n Jackie Brockway, the Conservative leader of West Lindsey District Council, said people were \u201cvery supportive\u201d of clean and sustainable energy.<\/p>\n \u201cBut in the case of Lincolnshire, we\u2019re really the food producers for the nation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re taking large swathes of food-producing land out of commission at a time when there is political instability in Europe. There are different ways to heat our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Nick Hill, 56, bought his 12-acre slot of land near Marton in 2022, where potatoes are due to be grown in the coming months.<\/p>\n But solar cables due to be built across his land would \u201cwreck the farm\u201d and jeopardise planning permission for new buildings, he fears.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can\u2019t build on the top of these cables, it\u2019s going to be a massive impact on our farm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a first-generation farmer, it\u2019s going to be devastating for us, because where are we going to put our machinery, where are we going to put our crops?\u201d<\/p>\n He disagrees with compulsory purchase powers granted under Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, which could see land such as his acquired for solar projects.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_275064027_ff277b-e1763726537432.jpg\")
Mr Skelton holding a pole which indicates the size of the 15-ft solar panels that will be built on land next to his home (Photo: Simon Skelton)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_275066258.jpg\")
A map of the area with areas in pink highlighting where the new solar farms will be located (Photo: Simon Skelton)<\/p>\n![\"Councillor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_275065400.jpg\")
Reform Councillor Sean Matthews, leader of Lincolnshire County Council, has vowed to \u2018lay down in front of bulldozers\u2019 to stop the solar farms (Photo: Lincolnshire County Council)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_275065242-e1763727042175.jpg\")
Nick Hill, a farmer who farms near the village of Marton, said cables being laid across his land will affect his work (Photo: Joe Duggan\/The i Paper)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_275063910-e1763727182635.jpg\")
Glentworth is one of the villages close to the Tillbridge Solar Project, which would be the UK\u2019s largest solar farm (Photo: Joe Duggan\/The i Paper)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_275063908-e1763727433316.jpg\")
Hill is concerned about the loss of land to solar farms (Photo: Joe Duggan\/The i Paper)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_275065250-e1763727804575.jpg\")
Signs opposing the solar farms are dotted parts of the Lincolnshire countryside (Photo: Joe Duggan\/The i Paper)<\/p>\n
![\"Article](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/comp-1763576798.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n