Sleaford &
North Hykeham
Solar Watch
Solar belongs on roofs — not on Lincolnshire's best farmland.
A running total of every acre of North Kesteven farmland under solar application, approved and built — taken from the published planning documents and kept up to date as schemes change.
Farmland in play across all schemes
~{{totals.all}}
acres
Approximate figures · Last updated {{updated}}
Already approved~{{totals.consented}} ac
Awaiting decision or paused~{{totals.pending}} ac
Why are they so big?
Size makes up for what solar can’t deliver.
Solar panels in Britain spend much of their time producing little or nothing — at night, on grey days and right through the winter, just when we need power most. Across a whole year, the Government’s own figures show UK solar generated only 9.8% of what it could if it ran at full power all the time.
To make up for that lack of output, developers simply build bigger — hundreds, even thousands of acres of panels to produce power that a single conventional power station could supply from a fraction of the land. That is why the schemes across North Kesteven are so vast. Size makes up for the lack of efficiency, and it is our farmland that pays the price.
9.8%
How much of its full potential UK solar actually delivered across 2024.
Put simply: on average, around 90% of a solar farm’s capacity goes unused.
Source: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Regional renewable electricity in 2024.
The same electricity, two very different footprints
One Rolls-Royce SMR
~10acres
470 MW, running at full power more than 95% of the time.About 3,900 GWh of electricity a year — day and night, summer and winter.
Solar to match it
~17,700acres
About 4,600 MW of panels would be needed to produce the same electricity over a year, at UK solar’s 9.8% output.At Springwell’s land use to maximum energy output — 3,100 acres for 800 MW — that would be roughly 17,700 acres of farmland. More than every solar acre now in play across North Kesteven put together.
The tracker
Scheme by scheme
The map
Where they are
Each circle marks a major scheme, sized by the farmland it covers. The map shows the whole of North Kesteven; the orange line is the Sleaford & North Hykeham constituency. Heckington Fen and Beacon Fen sit just outside the constituency line, in Heckington Rural ward — still North Kesteven, and the fields, the traffic and the cable routes are on our doorstep.
Sleaford & North Hykeham constituency boundary
Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026
Click any circle on the map, or any scheme in the list above, to see who's behind the scheme, how big it is, how much power it makes and who approved it.
Key
Approved — by Government ministers
Approved — by Conservative-run NKDC
Judicial review
Awaiting decision
Paused
Permission expired
Approved on appeal
Proposed
Substation — awaiting decision
Battery storage (BESS) — coloured by status
Circles show the approximate centre of each scheme, not its exact boundary. Full site plans are in each application.
100 megawatts and over
Decided in Westminster
The giant schemes are Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. The Secretary of State decides — not the district council. North Kesteven objected, and was overruled. All three approved so far — Heckington Fen, Springwell and Beacon Fen — were signed off by Labour’s Energy Secretary.
We'll put the council's full weight behind every objection to these national schemes, and keep the pressure on Westminster.
Under 100 megawatts
Decided here, by the district council
Smaller schemes — like Grange Farm, Ermine Street, Branston, Deepdale, Scopwick, Gorse Lane, White Cross Lane, Ferry Lane and Burton Gorse Plantation — come to North Kesteven District Council. All ten with live permission — about 1,430 acres — went through while the Conservatives ran the council. That's where a Reform UK council can make the difference. From 31 October 2026, new national rules mean council officers decide most applications against the Local Plan, and councillors can no longer call them in. So the plan is where this is won: we'll write protection for our best farmland into it, so refusals stand up at appeal, and open a published gateway for every ward councillor and parish council to ask for big schemes to go before Planning Committee.
The record
Who let this happen?
Every approved acre on this page was approved by one of the old parties — in the council chamber or in Whitehall.
Conservatives
11 solar farms and a battery site approved on their watch
Conservative-run North Kesteven District Council has now approved 11 solar farms and one battery storage (BESS) site. The Conservatives have run the council since 2007. They talk about protecting farmland. Their record says otherwise.
It was a Conservative government that wrote net zero into law in 2019, binding Britain to net zero by 2050. Here, the Conservatives running North Kesteven District Council are going even further — chasing net zero by 2030 for the council and the whole district. More panels on our fields is the price.
Labour
6,570 acres signed off by Labour ministers
Heckington Fen, Springwell and Beacon Fen were all approved by Labour's Energy Secretaries. Labour's Clean Power 2030 plan wants up to 47 gigawatts of solar by 2030 — and rural counties like ours are paying for it. It was also a Labour government's Planning Act 2008 that took the biggest decisions out of local hands.
Liberal Democrats
More of the same — only faster
The Lib Dems went into the 2024 general election promising that 90% of Britain’s electricity would come from renewables by 2030 — a faster timetable than Labour’s — and pledged to scrap what they called “unnecessary restrictions” on new solar and wind. Fewer restrictions means fewer safeguards for the countryside. Their manifesto said nothing about protecting our best farmland. For Lincolnshire, that means more panels on more fields.
Greens
Panels first, farmers last
The Greens’ 2024 manifesto called for around 100 gigawatts of solar by 2035 — more than four times what Britain has today — alongside a huge expansion of wind. They talk about backing farmers, but never say where all those panels would go, or whether food or solar comes first. In a county like ours, the answer is obvious: on the farmland that grows the nation’s food.
Reform UK
The only party saying no
Reform UK's national policy takes on the cause, not just the symptoms: the targets and subsidies that make it pay to cover farmland in panels. And a Reform UK council here would fight every scheme that threatens our best land.
01
Scrap Net Zero
Scrap the Net Zero targets that drive mega solar farms onto farmland in the first place.
02
End the subsidies
No more bill-payer subsidies for wind and solar. Reform UK has warned developers it won't feel bound by new renewable contracts.
03
Cheap, reliable British power
Fast-track clean nuclear and make the most of our own gas and oil — power that doesn't need thousands of acres of fields.
04
Back British farming
Increase the farming budget to £3 billion, support small farms and get young people into farming. Food security first.
05
Rooftops before fields
Locally, a Reform UK council puts solar on roofs and brownfield land — and writes protection for our best farmland into the Local Plan.
What a Reform UKNorth Kesteven District Council will do
{{p.n}}
{{p.title}}
{{p.body}}
How to object to a scheme
Download our objection guide (PDF) →1Find the applicationLarge schemes are on the Planning Inspectorate's website; smaller ones on North Kesteven's planning portal.Planning Inspectorate — national schemes ↗NKDC Planning Online — local schemes ↗
2Register before the deadlineNational schemes need you to register as an interested party during the consultation window — miss it and you can't take part.
3Stick to planning groundsLoss of good farmland, the combined effect of several schemes, landscape, flooding and traffic carry weight. Put it in your own words.
