What can a small French village teach Norfolk about solar?

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most inspiring.

While on holiday in the small commune of Alzonne in southern France, one of our members spotted something that left a lasting impression. Even the local supermarket had transformed its car park into a source of clean energy, with solar panels mounted above the parking spaces.

The solution was beautifully simple.

The panels generate renewable electricity, provide welcome shade from the sun, keep shoppers dry when it rains and make productive use of land that was already developed.

Not one square metre of valuable farmland has been lost.

It raises an important question for Norfolk.

If a small French town can generate solar power over a supermarket car park, why are we still proposing to cover thousands of acres of some of England’s most productive farmland with industrial-scale solar developments?

At CPRE Norfolk, we believe this is the wrong approach.

We are not opposed to solar energy. In fact, we believe renewable energy is essential if we are to tackle climate change. What we oppose is putting it in the wrong place.

Norfolk has countless opportunities to generate electricity from rooftops, warehouses, industrial buildings, brownfield sites and car parks. Solar canopies over parking areas are a practical example of how we can produce clean energy while adding benefits for businesses, customers and communities.

Instead, current planning proposals continue to target large areas of high-grade agricultural land.

This is about more than the view.

Norfolk is home to some of the country’s best agricultural soils. Once productive farmland is taken out of food production, we reduce our ability to grow food at a time when food security is becoming an increasingly important national issue.

Future generations will rightly question why we chose to industrialise fertile farmland when so many alternative locations were available.

Too often, government policy appears to prioritise delivering renewable energy targets as quickly as possible, rather than encouraging the smarter use of land that has already been developed.

We need long-term thinking that delivers both clean energy and food security – not one at the expense of the other.

The solution is already there.

The car park in Alzonne is a reminder that renewable energy and countryside protection do not have to compete. With imagination, good planning and political will, we can achieve both.

That is exactly why CPRE Norfolk continues to campaign for Getting Solar OFF the Land.

We want to see more solar on roofs, over car parks and on previously developed land, not across the productive farmland that has shaped Norfolk’s landscape for generations.

If you believe Norfolk deserves better planning, better protection and better solutions, please stand with us.

• Read more about our Getting Solar OFF the Land campaign
• Share our message with family and friends
• Become a member of CPRE Norfolk.

Your support strengthens our voice as we campaign for renewable energy in the right places, helping to protect the countryside, safeguard our food-producing land and ensure that Norfolk remains a thriving landscape for generations to come.

Together, we can champion a future where clean energy and a protected countryside go hand in hand.