‘He won’t be our MP again’: The solar ‘land grab’ in Miliband’s own backyard

Jonathan Leake

Sun, 22 February 2026 at 3:00 pm GMT+9 17 min read

Marr Grange farm in Ed Miliband’s Doncaster North constituency could soon be surrounded by solar panels - Asadour Guzelian

For nearly a century, Philip Hardy’s family has farmed the 500-acre Marr Grange farm just north of Doncaster, turning it from a simple estate into a thriving business over the decades.

Hardy, now 84, has spent his life there, adding a flourishing livestock operation and, the crown jewel, a farm shop and tearoom whose products and countryside views attract thousands of customers a week.

Soon, though, that countryside may largely disappear – hidden behind tens of thousands of solar panels surrounding not just his farm but the homes he and his family live in.

“People don’t just come here to shop,” Hardy says, “they come for the outlook, the countryside around us and the way it changes with the seasons.

“Even winter has its own beauty. But soon it could all be gone.”

Philip Hardy’s family has farmed Marr Grange for nearly a century - Asadour Guzelian

He is not alone in fearing the future. His property and business are among thousands around England facing disruption or even closure because of Ed Miliband’s pledge to rapidly expand Britain’s solar energy capacity.

The Energy Secretary is leading an aggressive net zero push for renewables such as solar – and developers are showing an unusual interest in his Doncaster North constituency, where Hardy’s farm is situated.

As unlikely as it seems, the city and surrounding areas of South Yorkshire have become a hotspot for solar developments.

The Marr Solar scheme, which is being led by a company called Enviromena, is just one of several renewable projects being pushed in Miliband’s constituency.

Another far larger solar scheme poised to surround the tiny village of Fenwick was approved by officials this week.

Other projects also approved include Europe’s biggest battery storage plant and at least three more solar farms. And all but one have generated a backlash from Miliband’s own potential voters.

It means Miliband’s constituency has become a microcosm of a far wider battle for the countryside – with clean power enthusiasts pitched against those who want to preserve the UK’s landscapes, wildlife and rural tranquillity.

Doncaster North’s numerous renewable projects are generating a local backlash - Asadour Guzelian

At the same time, the solar surge is changing the political outlook, too.

It may be a coincidence, but in each of the counties so far chosen to host large solar farms, voters have switched to Reform. In Miliband’s Doncaster, Reform swept to power in last year’s local elections, ending decades of Labour dominance.

But why are so many developers targeting Doncaster, which gets just 1,400 hours of sunshine a year compared with more than 2,000 in southern England, for their solar projects? Is it a coincidence or do they hope for more favourable treatment from the Energy Secretary?

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And much as the approvals might please Miliband, what will it mean for his and other Labour MPs’ chances of holding on to their parliamentary seats?

‘Miliband is never going to be our MP again’

“Reform has Doncaster surrounded,” says Stephen Fowle, a member of Moss and district parish council, who lives in Fenwick, the one-pub village about to be surrounded by solar panels. “Ed Miliband is never going to be our MP again.”

Formerly a staunch Labour Party member, he quit in disgust at the solar “land grab” organised, as he sees it, from London and which he believes will devalue his home and destroy the rural character of the area.

The political switch to Reform has benefited opponents of solar farms such as Hardy.

Enviromena’s planning application for Marr Solar was rejected outright by Doncaster council, despite being supported by planning officers. The decision is currently being appealed.

Rachel Reed, Reform’s Doncaster councillor, says: “What we’re seeing around this area is the annihilation of the green belt and the destruction of agricultural land by solar farms on a grand scale.

“They are eating up prime farmland in an area that doesn’t actually have that much sunshine, ruining landscapes and doing it very much against local consent. That’s why we turned it down.”

However, the Fenwick solar farm project is very much alive.

Once built, it will cover 1,300 acres of farmland – equivalent to about 650 football pitches – with arrays of solar panels and batteries replacing the views across rolling fields from most of the village’s homes.

The solar farm will be built and operated by Boom Power, founded by Mark Hogan, a renewable energy entrepreneur. In common with many other UK renewable ventures, his main investors are overseas – in Boom’s case based in Germany.

Hogan said he was delighted at winning approval, claiming the solar farm would benefit wildlife, local landowners and his investors: “This project demonstrates the strong and ongoing relationships we have with our partners and landowners, which are incredibly important to me.”

Graffiti supporting Boom’s Fenwick solar farm covers posters opposing the scheme - Asadour Guzelian

Some local voters seem to feel differently.

In last year’s Doncaster council elections, at the height of the debate over the Fenwick solar farm, the Fenwick ward’s voters threw out the incumbents – two Labour councillors and a Tory – instead choosing three new Reform councillors strongly opposed to the scheme.

Janet Raynor, another villager who helped lead the fight against the Fenwick solar farm, says that a key factor was the “contemptuous” way in which Miliband, their local MP, responded to their calls for support.

“We wrote asking for his backing and he agreed to hold a meeting in Moss and Fenwick village hall but we all had to give our names beforehand and he refused to have any media. Boom Power came with him too.

“When we met him he told us he wanted the solar farm to happen to help people out of energy poverty, told us we were Nimbys and refused to support our cause.

“He effectively said this solar farm would happen and we should just shut up.”

Janet Raynor and Stephen Fowle are fighting the Fenwick solar farm plan - Asadour Guzelian

‘Smash the Nimbys’

Attacks on local people who oppose new developments have become a central theme of Labour’s approach to infrastructure development.

It dates back to Sir Keir Starmer’s speech at the 2023 Labour Party conference.

In it, he promised to “bulldoze the blockers” and take on residents and councils fighting new developments, those often dubbed “Nimbys”.

Within Labour, new groups such as the Labour Infrastructure Forum have been set up with even more aggressive slogans such as “Smash the Nimbys”.

Its meetings, which are always private, attract speakers such as Darren Jones, now chief secretary to the PM, various captains of industry and, of course, Miliband.

He made his position clear in a speech to Energy UK, a trade body for the power industry, two years ago when he said: “Every wind turbine we block, every solar farm we reject, every piece of grid we fail to build makes us less secure and more exposed. And it’s the poorest in our society who have paid the price.

“My message today is that we will take on the blockers, the delayers, the obstructionists. Because clean energy is the economic justice, energy security and national security fight of our time.”

But Miliband’s promise has not quite worked out as planned.

British households now pay more for their power than almost any other European country, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which blamed net zero levies.

British household power bills average £963 a year, but about £220 of this is because of subsidies, mostly for renewables.

The ‘grey belt’ argument

Back in Doncaster North, it’s not just Fenwick Solar or Marr Solar that will be adding to those subsidy bills.

Another solar development is proposed at nearby Hooton Pagnell – one of the most picturesque “estate villages” in South Yorkshire and listed in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Previous generations of the Warde-Norbury family, landowners and local squires for more than 300 years, have prided themselves on keeping the village so historically intact it frequently features as a backdrop in films and TV.

Most recently, Ralph Fiennes was seen in the village, filming for The Choral, the recently released movie. It has also served as a backdrop for the TV series Victoria, with Jenna Coleman, and Gentleman Jack, featuring Suranne Jones.

A 232-acre solar development has also been proposed in picturesque Hooton Pagnell - Darren Galpin / Alamy Stock Photo

Yet its role as a time-capsule village may soon be over.

Mark Warde-Norbury, the current member of the family who now owns the land, has struck a deal with British Solar Renewables to cover 232 acres of the estate’s farmland with solar panels.

British Solar Renewables is owned by ICG, a global investor managing £94bn of assets whose main shareholders include France’s Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, and US giants such as BlackRock and Vanguard.

The Hooton Pagnell site will be 1.5 miles long, stretching along the village’s southern and eastern edges, making it three to four times bigger than the village.

2202 Hooton Pagnell solar farm

By what legal means could such an idyllic spot be turned into an industrial solar plant? The key planning argument British Solar Renewables is deploying is over the status of the land – currently green belt.

It argues this should be reclassified as “grey belt”, opening the way to development.

What, though, does grey belt mean? The term, a new addition to the British planning vocabulary, was popularised by Labour before the 2024 election to describe “poor quality” green belt land.

Once Labour took power the idea moved from a campaign slogan into formal policy via updates to the National Planning Policy Framework, taking effect last February.

Under the new rules, almost any green belt land can be designated as grey belt unless it is the last bit of greenery between two sets of urban sprawl or is essential to preserve the character of historic towns.

Back at the Marr scheme, the same argument is being deployed by Enviromena, ultimately owned by London-based investor Arjun Infrastructure Partners, in its planning appeal against the rejection by Doncaster’s Reform-led council.

Chris Marsh, the Enviromena chief executive, says: “Doncaster refused our application despite a clear recommendation for approval from its planning officers.

“We are confident that the project’s strong planning merits will be fully considered through the independent appeals process.”

That means the application will now be heard by the Planning Inspectorate and, because it will set a planning precedent, the final decision is likely to be taken by a minister in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

At Fenwick, that decision was handed to Lord Whitehead, a minister renowned for his enthusiasm for solar. As expected, he approved it.

Matthew Carlton, a local resident who is leading the fight against Hooton Pagnell solar farm, says that creation of the “grey belt” designation has opened the way to solar farms being built almost anywhere.

He said: “This is grade-one farmland, some of the best in the region, also renowned for wildlife with breeding skylarks, owls and red kites. The village has a cricket pitch, used for a hundred years, but the solar panels will come right up to the edge – close enough to be hit by cricket balls.”

Last year, Carlton from Hooton Pagnell spoke to Miliband to ask how the solar farm application would be viewed.

“I asked Miliband if there was anywhere he wouldn’t approve a solar farm. He said the climate emergency was so severe that he would put them almost anywhere.”

A Hooton Pagnell villager claimed Mr Miliband said he would build solar farms almost anywhere - Max Steyger / DESNZ

The Hooton Pagnell scheme will go first to Doncaster city council, where rejection is likely, and then follow the same path to appeal, to be decided by one of Miliband’s junior ministers, all of whom are renewables enthusiasts.

Hayley Burke, a project manager at British Solar Renewables, says the solar farm would enhance landscapes and wildlife: “Far from destroying rural landscapes, the Hooton Pagnell Renewable Park is calculated to achieve a biodiversity net gain of 184pc through ecological enhancements including hedgerow restoration, wildflower meadows and pond enhancements. The completed solar farm will be grazed with heritage breed sheep.”

Cynthia Ransome, ward councillor and one of just six Conservatives left on Doncaster city council, disagrees, warning that solar farms are top of a list of issues driving local voters towards Reform in the area.

Last year’s elections saw Reform oust her Conservative co-councillor for the ward. “The swing is huge and it’s not looking great for Miliband’s prospects or mine at any future election,” she said.

Doncaster Conservative councillor Cynthia Ransome (left) and Reform’s Rachel Reed, who both oppose planned solar farm projects - Asadour Guzelian

However, she and almost everyone spoken to by The Telegraph stress that they fully support action against climate change – including deploying solar energy.

What angers them is not the technology, but the way England’s planning system lets large solar farms be built almost anywhere – irrespective of the damage done to established businesses, property values, agriculture and landscapes.

The same lack of spatial planning also means large solar farms can be built close together with little consideration of the collective impact – as is happening in areas such as Doncaster North.

Further proof lies just down the road in the Moorhouse, also in Miliband’s constituency. A company called Infinis is targeting green belt land for the Colliery Junction Solar Park, which will entail 74 acres of panels and batteries. It too is arguing for the land to be reclassified as grey belt.

Sue Hillyer and her daughter Emily Hobson, who run Moorhouse Equestrian Centre, say the scheme would kill their business.

Emily Hobson (left) and her mother Sue Hillyer claim the planned solar development in Moorhouse would destroy their equestrian business - Asadour Guzelian

Hillyer, 56, has spent decades building her venture, with 33 horses in livery and parts of the site rented to others, such as a veterinary surgery and a dog-grooming centre – creating about 25 jobs altogether.

“The construction will be bad. I can see our tenants and customers not wanting to be here any more just with the traffic and noise,” she says.

“Once it’s built the area will be transformed from a quiet area ideal for riding into an industrialised nightmare: a mass of glinting panels guaranteed to frighten flight animals like horses.”

The small-business owner says she wants to fight: “I’ve been to Doncaster council, the parish council, everyone I can think of.

“The only person I haven’t tried to speak to is Miliband because, knowing how much he favours renewable energy, there isn’t really a lot of point.”

What next for Miliband in Doncaster?

One thorny question is whether solar developers are targeting Doncaster North because Miliband is sympathetic to their cause.

Infinis, owned by 3i Infrastructure plc, a leading London-listed investment company, said it chose the site “based on land availability, grid access and commercial viability”, and stated “political considerations are not part of our selection process”.

It’s also fair to say that not all the energy schemes planned in Doncaster North have angered locals. On the east side of the constituency around 500 giant shipping containers are being installed on the site of the old Thorpe Marsh power station.

The batteries they contain will turn into Europe’s biggest energy storage site – and hardly anyone has objected because the scheme is on a disused industrial area with few impacts on nearby homes and businesses.

Europe’s biggest battery storage site will soon sit on the former site of Thorpe Marsh power station - Asadour Guzelian

Big solar is, however, being done differently and that makes it increasingly political – at least in rural areas targeted by developers.

In Lincolnshire, Sean Matthews, the council leader, says the backlash against Miliband’s approvals of a cluster of giant solar plants in the county were key in helping Reform take control in last year’s elections.

“I recently wrote to the Secretary of State, urging him to reform the planning process so that concerns of local communities and local councils are properly considered,” Matthews says.

Miliband, aware of the absence of any overall planning strategy, has commissioned the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to develop a “strategic spatial energy plan”.

However, that plan won’t be published till the end of this year at best, with implementation unlikely before late 2027.

There are 40 more giant solar farms already seeking planning approval and Miliband’s energy department says these won’t be put on hold pending the plan.

The Energy Secretary hopes to see the 20-gigawatt capacity in place now grow to 70 gigawatts by 2035, so delays are impossible.

However, a government spokesman acknowledged the need for better planning. “We have commissioned the National Energy System Operator to develop the first-ever strategic spatial energy plan, which will support a more actively planned approach to energy projects, to bring good jobs to communities and help to lower bills.”

The local elections in May will be a test of that policy. If the polls are correct, Reform’s surge in Lincolnshire last year could soon be repeated in Norfolk, Suffolk and other counties – with solar land grabs a key factor.

Political ramifications

That is already worrying some of Miliband’s neighbouring MPs.

Next door to Doncaster North lies the Rawmarsh and Conisbrough seat of John Healey, the Defence Secretary – who is coincidentally a potential rival to Miliband if Sir Keir Starmer is ousted as PM.

Faced with the 5,000-acre Whitestone solar plant in his constituency – and the burgeoning local protests – Healey has lodged a formal objection to the scheme.

He says: “National policy is clear that large-scale solar must protect openness and landscape value, yet Whitestone’s own assessment admits significant adverse effects that cannot be mitigated.”

Jake Richards MP, into whose Rother Valley constituency the Whitestone project extends, has also objected.

And over in Norfolk, Terry Jermy, the MP who ousted Liz Truss, has objected to the sheer number of solar developers targeting the county.

Miliband’s Labour colleagues are not yet likely to confront him directly over his solar crusade, but the tensions will grow as the next election approaches.

And then he could face an even greater challenge. Back in 2019 he just about held on to his seat with a narrow 2,400 majority after the Brexit Party took 20pc of the vote. That went back up to 9,000 in 2024 – when no Reform candidate challenged him.

But those numbers mean Doncaster North will be one of Nigel Farage’s top targets.

Miliband could also face a heavyweight newcomer to politics.

Jeremy Clarkson is widely associated with the Cotswolds, where he runs his Diddly Squat farm, but he was born in Doncaster in 1960, and began his journalism career on the nearby Rotherham Advertiser.

Now he’s thinking of going back to fight Miliband for that Doncaster North seat.

His columns have already accused the Energy Secretary of carpet-bombing the countryside with solar, observing that “you can’t eat electricity”.

Now it sounds like he might be up for a more substantial challenge.

“People of Doncaster North,” he wrote on X last October. “Are you happy with your MP? Would you like it if someone from your neck of the woods kicked him out?”

On current political trends, the answer could be a resounding yes.

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