CPRE Wiltshire AGM – Tuesday 16th July – Report

Anne Henshaw, our Chairman, spoke about several high-profile issues including enormous challenges presented by the new Government’s policies, water pollution, affordable housing, the need for a strategy for land use, the loss of community identity and NIMBY-ism (often a good thing).  She asked members to keep up to date by reading our e-newsletters, our website and our Wiltshire Voice magazine, and concluded by thanking the branch staff and our several volunteer members for their hard work.

Anthony Cohen, our Treasurer, briefly highlighted items in our Accounts for 2023/24 (which are in the Resources pages).  Investments had fallen in the last FY but had risen recently and total assets now stood at about £80k, partly thanks to a legacy received.

Trustees had changed slightly.  Philippa Gray was elected and John Eaton had resigned due to other work pressures.

Our Guest Speakers, Roger Mortlock (CEO of CPRE) and Jackie Copley (CPRE National Planning Policy Lead) gave a joint presentation, largely on the CPRE Rooftop Solar campaign.  They covered the impact of land use changes, the need for an integrated approach to this, the various scales of decision making from national down to neighbourhoods, and the need to recognise the variety of qualities of agricultural land.  They then showed how solar panels could be placed on so many areas, not just rooftops but also car parks and especially on new buildings, and showed that energy production from solar was far greater per unit area than from wind generation.  They also quoted a report that 117 GW of solar power (well above recent targets) could be generated without using farmland.  Getting solar panels on new buildings and over car parks could deliver nearly as much electricity generating capacity as 10 new nuclear power stations, but only 5% of warehouses in the UK currently have rooftop solar.

CPRE’s recent “Lighting the Way” report had found that the UK lags behind many other nations when considering rooftop solar.  Germany is achieving ten times that of the UK.  Financial incentives, notable there and also in France and Japan, are helping.  Roger and Jackie then spoke about recent solar farm proposals in Wiltshire, highlighting the huge areas of farmland that would be covered.

In conclusion, they said that CPRE recommends: mandated solar on all rooftops, setting targets for retrofit, financially helping to install this, making installation of solar generation on wasted space easier, and rooftop first in all policy making.

Points made by the audience and by Roger and Jackie included:

• A critical issue with solar power was the connection to the National Grid: we needed a national strategy both for this and for all solar farms.
• The problem of land owners being offered huge sums of money, from abroad, to allow their land to be covered with solar panels. But a recent study had shown that 100,000 jobs could be created by fitting solar panels onto warehouse and house rooftops.
• The possible introduction by China of malware into IT systems connected to solar panels.
• Realistically only a government mandate would achieve the installation of solar panels on roofs during construction.
• CPRE was working with Create Streets, a company that delivered better designs and high-density housing while still providing good open spaces for communities.
• There was an increase in copper thefts from solar panel farms.
• The need to encourage a greater proportion of houses to be self-built. Such houses were generally more likely to be attractive.  In the UK this accounted for just 7% of new housing, while in Austria for example it accounted for about 75%.
• Solar tiles were currently more expensive but could be more affordable if they were installed during construction. A related issue was the need to orientate as many houses, both individually and in estates, to have south-facing roofs for better efficiency of solar generation.
• Planning permission should be dependent on providing a financial bond that would cover the cost of decommissioning solar farms.

Notes on our guest speakers

The Chief Executive Officer of CPRE – Roger Mortlock – joined CPRE from the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (GWT) where he had been CEO for the past nine years. He led the GWT through a period of significant change, increasing the ambition of their programmes and doubling income. On the national stage, Roger is an experienced campaigner. At GWT he developed and launched the UK’s first green infrastructure benchmark and led on several national agricultural policy projects for the Wildlife Trusts. Prior to the GWT, Roger was Deputy Director of the Soil Association and, before that, Director of Communications with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

CPRE’s national lead for Planning Policy – Jackie Copley MRTPI – is a planner with over 30 years’ experience.   Over the last decade she has worked for CPRE Lancashire with volunteers to deliver campaigning successes, including stopping harmful impacts arising from fracking, and large housing developments proposed on green fields.  During the past year in her current role she has responded to numerous government consultations to speed up Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, change the National Planning Policy Framework on local plan making, and on additional Permitted Development Rights.  Jackie is to take on a new challenge as CPRE’s Campaign Lead, with the intent of ensuring the new government is effectively persuaded by CPRE to save land in our countryside for the benefit of all in the future.  At our AGM she hopes to share key insights into the next government’s early days and what it means for planning.  She looks forward to meeting colleagues at CPRE Wiltshire to better understand the countryside issues of the day with a particular focus on solar farms.