• Save Old Malton
• Save Our Countryside
• Save Our Food
The Decision
25th February 2025
The Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP, on behalf of the Secretary of State, Angela Rayner, allowed the Harmony Energy appeal for Solar and Battery Storage at Eden Farm, Old Malton.
We are shocked and devastated at this ill-judged decision which will cause immeasurable damage to our successful farming business and leave us with a very uncertain and difficult future.
Our efforts fighting this application have been mammoth, with an outstanding contribution from our team of professional advisors. But it wasn’t to be. During the Public Inquiry, we put forward a strong case to the Inspector. We could not have done any more. We have fought with integrity, tenacity and a strong moral compass that sought to protect the characteristics of this part of North Yorkshire. Today, unlike some, we can hold our heads high.
In approving the scheme, the Secretary of State, Angela Rayner, has ruled in favour of renewable energy over the “irreversible detriment” to an existing successful agricultural business and in the full knowledge that the development is “not entirely in accordance with local policy”.
But our efforts were not totally in vain. The Inspector has agreed that the impact on us is “significant and exceptional by comparison to other schemes” and recognises the harm to our business carries substantial overarching weight against granting permission for the appeal. Yet clearly none of this has been enough to trump the benefit of clean energy.
Quite simply, this Labour government does not support the hard-working farmer or family business, and the drive to Net Zero nationally and locally is destroying businesses like ours. The prospect now for other tenant farmers successfully opposing solar energy schemes is remote in the extreme.
Solar appeals are notoriously difficult to challenge; we went into this with our eyes wide open and have always known that our arguments were sound in accordance with planning policy and we always hoped in our hearts that common decency and justice would prevail. We have no regrets, but of course, we are deeply disappointed.
UPDATED 5th April 2024
On the brink of the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, we were informed that Harmony Energy have decided to appeal the Council decision to refuse the solar application at Eden Farm. Although this is not entirely unexpected, it is nevertheless extremely disappointing. It is clear that Harmony Energy and the Fitzwilliam Trust Corporation have known for some time they were going to appeal but both parties only felt it appropriate to inform us as the last moment. It is a great shame that our landlord has not consulted with us since the Committee hearing in October, particularly bearing in mind the threat of an appeal has continued to have on our business, not to mention our well-being.
Our family is devastated by this news which will bring another year of difficulty, but we will deal with this new challenge in the same positive spirit we have dealt with the situation we have been unnecessarily placed in over the past 4 years.
As other more sustainable applications come forward in our region (as they have done so already), we hope that the Planning Inspector will recognise there are many valid planning reasons to uphold the refusal of this application, not least when there are several other willing landowners with more suitable sites.
Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions, please do get in touch.
Rob and Emma
Rob & Emma Sturdy with Councillor Lindsay Burr
10th October 2023
I am delighted to be able to say the North Yorkshire Planning Committee have overwhelmingly refused permission for solar and battery storage at Eden Farm with 10 votes against 4.
There 4 planning reasons for rejection are:
- Impact on the tenant farmer
- Lack of evidence put forward as to other more suitable sites
- Loss of best and most versatile farmland
- Visual amenity
Our campaign has fought long and hard for this day and it has paid off. The committee were strong on their points, the majority fully understood they must consider the impact on the personal circumstances of the tenant farmer and that the impact on us is exceptional. There was also a real appreciation of our good land management and the importance of retaining good agricultural land.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone for your relentless support and thanks to Councillor Lindsay Burr for her support today. We shall wait to see if Harmony Energy will appeal this decision but for now we will take this result and enjoy it!
Rob and Emma
Farm Victory over Rees Mogg Trust
Tenant farmers have fended off a proposal linked to Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg’s wife to kick them off their land to make way for solar panels.
Rob Sturdy, whose grandfather Guy moved to Eden Farm in Malton, Yorkshire, in 1954, faced the prospect of being forced to leave almost half the land by the trust which ultimately owns it.
The Fitzwilliam Trust Corporation counts Helena Rees-Mogg, the wife of the MP for North East Somerset, as a director.
We are Robert and Emma Sturdy, the third generation of family to farm 280-acres as part of an Agricultural Holdings Act Tenancy at Eden Farm near Old Malton in North Yorkshire.
Currently faced with the prospect of losing almost half our farmland – 130 acres (110 acres of our land and 20 acres of a neighbouring farm) to thousands of glaring solar panels, we are launching this campaign to protect this prime agricultural food producing land, our countryside and our livelihood.
This is why we are so passionate about Eden Farm and the surrounding countryside.
Farms like ours don’t just happen; there have been three generations of blood, sweat and tears gone into making it. It’s not called Eden Farm for anything – so many people cycle and walk in this local area which forms part of the Malton to Pickering cycle route. It is quintessential British countryside and we certainly don’t take living here for granted.
Farming is a long term endeavour. The land has been invested in over the past 3 generations and farmed sustainably for the previous 25 years. It takes a great deal of skill, patience and experience to make a farming business successful.
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